Map shows voyeurism crime ‘hotspots’ amid disturbing trend of filming women on nights out

Women who are filmed in a manner which is causing them alarm or distress should contact the police immediately.

Voyeurism offences have soared in England and Wales over the last decade amid concern over a disturbing trend in “nightlife videos” online. Clips have increasingly appeared online showing women being secretly filmed on nights out. These videos have grown in popularity in recent years, with one channel, set up just four months ago, receiving over 300 million views.

The videos, which film unsuspecting women, who are often intoxicated or deliberately recorded in revealing outfits without their permission, are still being posted to the likes of YouTube. Some have received over 40 million views in a matter of months and attracted sickening misogynistic comments.

A special report by the Manchester Evening News recently highlighted the disturbing trend in Manchester city centre. Greater Manchester Police told the M.E.N that while it is not illegal to film people in public without their consent, “women and girls should feel safe on a night out”.

In November last year, a man was arrested on suspicion of voyeurism and harassment following a series of secretly filmed Manchester nightlife videos that were published online.

It was the first arrest in the country linked with viral videos on social media platforms, filming women on nights out. He remains on bail amid investigations.

New Home Office data shows how the number of voyeurism and exposure-related crimes recorded by police in England and Wales has more than doubled in the last decade.

These two separate offences are summarised together in the official figures and can not be differentiated. Police recorded 7,847 of these crimes in the year ending March 2015, compared to 16,890 crimes recorded in the year ending March 2025, a 115% rise.

This sort of crime is most common in cities. Of community safety partnership areas – which are broadly similar to council areas – Birmingham had the highest number of offences of voyeurism and exposure last year, with 362. That was followed by Manchester (290), Leeds (214), Liverpool (208), Westminster (198), and Bristol (191).

Use our interactive map below to see voyeurism and exposure crime reports in your area.

Women who are filmed in a manner which is causing them alarm or distress should contact the police immediately. Each reported case can be reviewed individually. While overall conduct may not be classed as stalking, harassment or voyeurism, some individual instances may be and can be investigated.

Google, which owns YouTube, told the Manchester Evening News that its privacy complaint process allows users to report content that “features their image or other personally indefinable information”.

Voyeurism is the act of getting sexual pleasure from watching, photographing or recording others doing something that’s usually private, for example, when they’re naked or having sex.

It is an offence if it is done without the person’s permission. The offence includes photographing or filming others for someone else’s sexual pleasure.

Voyeurism includes crimes such as “upskirting”, when an offender attempts to record an image beneath another person’s clothing without their consent.

Offences of this nature are summarised in official data with crimes of exposure, which is when someone intentionally exposes their genitals with the intent of causing harm or distress. These offences carry a maximum penalty of two years in prison.

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