Pervert used his mobile phone to photograph girls changing at Edinburgh pool

Ryan Miller, 29, placed a mobile phone under the cubicle the two children were in and snatched images of them while they were partially clothed.

Miller targeted the youngsters, aged nine and eight, while they were on a primary school trip at Portobello Swim Centre in Edinburgh in 2019.Their school cannot be named to protect the girls’ identity.

The fiend then fled the swim centre after the children told a teacher and he had been challenged by a member of staff.

Police eventually traced him two days later where he claimed he had “dropped my phone” while in the cubicle.

But Miller later confessed to his girlfriend he was attracted to children and had attempted to snap pictures of the two young girls at the pool.

He pleaded guilty to placing his phone under the cubicle where the two girls were changing and taking or attempting to take pictures of them and commit a breach of the peace when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today.

Sheriff Peter McCormack placed Miller on the Sex Offenders’ Register and deferred sentence for social work reports and restriction of liberty assessment to be prepared.

Procurator fiscal depute Jack Castor told the court Miller, from Joppa, Edinburgh, arrived at the capital swimming pool with the man he was a caring for at around 12.50pm on September 23, 2019.

The two young victims were part of a school group who were having swimming lessons at the pool and following their tuition the pair were changing together within a cubicle.

Mr Castor said: “Around 1.50pm the swimming lesson came to an end and all the children left the pool and made their way to the changing area.

“[The two girls] entered the same cubicle and began to change. They took off their swimming costumes and began to dress themselves.

“[One girl] observed a hand appearing from the foot of the neighbouring cubicle holding a mobile phone.

“She heard it making a noise which she associated with taking photos.

“On getting a fright [the girl] alighted from the cubicle and made her way to contact [a teaching assistant].

The fiscal said the second girl then “peered round the cubicle door” and saw Miller make his way from the area on his own.

The teaching assistant immediately alerted a swim centre supervisor who challenged Miller about the incident.

Miller shouted “I’m not doing this here” and left the centre before police arrived.

The fiscal added Miller was then arrested two days later and told officers “I know what this is about. It’s about when I dropped my phone the other day.”

Mr Castor revealed that Miller had then told his partner “he had been filming children at a swimming pool” and that “he was attracted to children”.

The court was told the woman immediately ended her relationship with Miller that day.

Defending solicitor Phil Moore said he would reserve his mitigation to the sentencing hearing.

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