Postman who upskirted girls advised police he stored photos of kids as ‘trophies’
Grant Borroff, 55, was arrested in Colchester, Essex, after police found he had downloaded indecent images of children and taken photographs of children as young as one year old — he has now received a suspended sentence
Grant Borroff at a previous hearing before Colchester Magistrates’ Court last year(Image: Newsquest / SWNS)
A postman who took upskirt photos of women and stored indecent images of children he had taken himself described the pictures as “trophies” during a police interview, a court has been told.
Grant Borroff, 55, was apprehended at his home in Colchester, Essex, after police intelligence revealed that the defendant had downloaded indecent images of children. Ipswich Crown Court was informed that investigators discovered Borroff had used a camera to snap photos of children as young as one year old.
Prosecutor Godfried Duah stated that one of the offences involved Borroff using his camera to zoom into a child’s private parts. He added: “The defendant had been upskirting young schoolchildren in Colchester. The upskirting images were saved on his phone.
“In interview, he initially gave ‘no comment’ responses to police questions but halfway through decided to make full admissions. He also mentioned that he viewed the images as trophies, attempting to downplay his actions.”
The devices which police confiscated from Borroff, a former postman, were found to contain 66 Category A images, 119 Category B images, and 2,220 Category C images. He pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children, three counts of taking indecent images of children, and one count each of possessing a prohibited image of a child, possessing an extreme pornographic image, and voyeurism.
Defence lawyer Johan Grefstad argued that the images did not depict children engaged in sexual acts. He said: “They are pictures of children in public settings – that is a distinction I would like to seek to draw out.”
He suggested Borroff’s offending was opportunistic, but Judge Samantha Leigh disagreed, stating there had been a degree of planning involved in the defendant’s taking of the photographs.
Mr Grefstad continued: “What we have is a man of good character. He has a supportive family and he has lost his job due to the attention that this case has generated and in his own words, his life has been cancelled.
“Obviously, he has brought this on entirely himself.”
Judge Leigh stated a suspended sentence would enable the probation service to offer Borroff rehabilitation programmes.
She sentenced him to two years in prison, suspended for 20 months, and ordered him to complete an accredited programme as well as 60 days of rehabilitation activity.
He was also required to undertake a one-year mental health treatment requirement and wear a GPS monitoring tag for six months.
He will be a registered sex offender for ten years.
