Serial ‘upskirter’ had 290 videos of women and uploaded more than 100 montages of footage online

A former Gold Coast real estate agent cried in court as he pleaded guilty to a string of offences, including uploading more than 290 ‘upskirting’ videos to the internet.

Nicholas Rhys Owen leaving Southport Watchhouse. Picture: Lea Emery

MORE than 290 videos were taken up the skirts of Gold Coast women in a two-year period by a former real estate agent who would put music to video montages and post them online.

Nicholas Rhys Owen, 29, would take the videos of unsuspecting women using a camera on his shoe or a bag.

Owen also had a side business of selling fake Queensland licences, complete with holographic images for $75 a pop.

Owen, an ice addict, also uploaded confidential police files online, purchased counterfeit cash off eBay and was found with drugs.

He walked from the Southport Watchhouse yesterday after spending 152 days in custody.

Owen was sentenced to 15 months prison which was suspended yesterday, two years probation and fined $900.

Magistrate Gary Finger said the videos were the “ultimate invasion of women’s privacy” and were uploaded to a website which had 40 million hits.

“The images were used for yours and other’s perverted pleasure and gratification,” Mr Finger said.

The videos were taken between August 2014 and November 2016.

Owen cried after pleading guilty yesterday in Southport Magistrates Court to multiple charges including invasion of privacy, obtaining and dealing with identification information

“You might stand there blubbering and so you should,” Mr Finger said.

The women have not been identified and it is possible each of the videos were of different women.

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The court was told Owen also took files from a police USB and uploaded them onto the internet.

He obtained the USB after a police officer asked him to put CCTV footage from his home onto it following a robbery.

None of the files uploaded contained personal information or compromised an investigation.

Defence lawyer Erin Mitchell said Owen, a former real estate agent, was struggling with an addiction to ice during the offending.

She said he had the support of his parents, also real estate agents.