A COVENTRY children’s entertainer and magician who secretly filmed a teenage girl while she was taking a shower has been jailed and ordered to register as a sex offender.
Stephen Buxton, who took an overdose after his ‘deviant behaviour’ was discovered, pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to two charges of taking indecent images of the girl.
Buxton (43) of Burnaby Road, Radford, Coventry, who performed as ‘Mr Wizz,’ was jailed for 16 months and ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years.
He was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order under which he is banned from having any contact with children without the consent of the parent or guardian, in the knowledge of his conviction, and the approval of Social Services.
Prosecutor Anthony Cartin said that earlier this year Buxton, not in his capacity as an entertainer, was at an address in Coventry where there was a 16-year-old girl.
When the girl said she was going to take a shower, he asked to go to the bathroom first, on the pretext of needing to go to the toilet, and the girl then went in and had her shower.
But as she was about to leave the bathroom she noticed a mobile phone in the corner – and when she picked it up she saw its camera had been set to record.
It had been recording for about 20 minutes, and when she played it back it showed Buxton placing the phone in the corner, having already started it recording, and then leaving.
It had also captured her going into the bathroom, undressing and showering.
The horrified girl went downstairs to confront Buxton, who left as she told one of her parents what he had done.
Then in the early hours of the following morning Buxton was found in his parked car, having taken an overdose of more than 70 Paracetamol tablets.
With him was a letter apologising for the upset he had caused and making it clear he intended to kill himself.
He was taken to hospital, and when he was arrested on being discharged the following day, his phone was seized.
On it police hi-tech experts found ‘thumbnails’ which were the traces of some naked images he had taken in a similar way of the same girl when she was 15, said Mr Cartin.
But despite what he had said in his suicide note, Buxton answered ‘no comment’ to questions when officers interviewed him.
Sarah Holland, defending, pointed out that there was a request in the pre-sentence report that Buxton, whose children were not aware of the case, should not be identified.
But that was rejected by Judge Alan Parker, who remarked: “There’s a public interest in a person convicted of this type of offence being named.”
And Judge Parker told Buxton: “Once you were caught out you were full of remorse and sorrow for yourself, which manifested itself in the dramatic attempt to take your own life.
“Your deviant behaviour must have caused the greatest distress, and you invaded the privacy of the young victim. It is unavoidable that a custodial sentence is imposed.”
