Former Met Police officer convicted of naked voyeurism offences

A misconduct hearing has found a former officer convicted of voyeurism offences. 

A misconduct hearing held on Monday, 24 January for former Detective Inspector Neil Corbel, resigned following his conviction of perverse and dishonest acts.

DI Neil Corbel, 40, from Hertfordshire previously attached to the Met’s Continuous Policing Improvement Command, was charged with 19 offences within the Greater London, Manchester, Brighton and other areas between January 2017 and February 2020.

The married father-of-two pretended to be an airline pilot, Det Insp Neil Corbel arranged fake photoshoots in hotel rooms, flats and Airbnbs and hiding cameras in everyday items such as tissue boxes, phone chargers, air fresheners and headphones.

Judge Martin Edmunds QC jailed Corbel for a total of three years at Isleworth Crown Court on Friday  “You used a range of deceptions to induce women to take off their clothes in your presence so you could record videos for your sexual gratification,” he told Corbel.

He was caught after a woman became suspicious of a digital clock and found it was a spy camera.

In 2019, model Lizzie booked onto a four-hour shoot with an amateur photographer. ​“An hour in, I felt strange,” she said. ​“About halfway through the shoot, I noticed an alarm clock which had a different time. He [the photographer] saw me look at it and said, ​‘Oh, it’s an odd clock because there’s a different time on it’.”

Feeling suspicious, Lizzie went to the bathroom, Googled the brand of clock and was shocked to discover that it was a covert video camera. ​“I felt really angry and sad, because I thought that if I let on that I knew, he would freak out,” she continued. ​“I had visions of him clobbering me over the head as I left. Then I had to endure two more hours [of the shoot]. He kept trying to get explicit images of me that I hadn’t consented to and he kept positioning me in front of the clock.”

However, he said the revelation it was a serving officer had “seriously undermined” his victims’ trust in police.

Three of Corbel’s victims watched on as he was jailed, having faced him in court to read their victim impact statements.

One model, who agreed to pose for a “fashion and artistic nude shoot”, was visibly angry as she told Corbel his crimes had “affected every aspect of my life”.

Det Chief Supt Barnett added: “I am disappointed in the actions of the officer which are not representative of the standards we expect. I am saddened by the pain and hurt that he has caused.”  

Police found images of some 51 women on Corbel’s hard drive and were able to identify 19 victims willing to make statements against him.

The offences, which were said to not be linked to his work as a police officer, took place across the London, Manchester and Brighton areas between January 2017 and February 2020.

Prosecutor Babatunde Alabi said none of the women – apart from one – had agreed to be videoed. The one that had consented, had said no intimate parts were to be filmed. She did not realise there were other hidden cameras in the room.

“The fact that he is policeman is a huge deal,” said one.

“These people are meant to protect us. Following the murder of Sarah Everard this feels like a very frightening time to be a woman.”

“He set up the rooms well in advance with covert devices planted in strategic places capturing the women while they were undressing before the shoots,” said the prosecutor.

“What is obvious from watching the videos is that from time to time he would manoeuvre the models so that open-leg photos and open-leg videos were obtained.

He added: “There was one model who agreed to being videoed but insisted to the defendant there were going to be no open-leg videos.

“She of course didn’t realised there were other overt devices hidden around the room.”