A man filmed up the skirt of York woman - leaving her feeling "violated and humiliated", a court heard.

Adrian Manica, 34, also had indecent images of children on his mobile phone and thought he may be a paedophile, said Joshua Gott, prosecuting at York Magistrates' Court.

The woman had no idea what Manica had done to her until police found the videos he had made of her.

"I felt humiliated and my privacy had been violated," she said in a personal statement. "I feel sick.”

Manica, who lives in Wycliffe Avenue, Tang Hall, pleaded guilty to one offence of upskirting, or operating a mobile phone under the clothing of another person without their consent and one offence of having indecent images of children.

District judge Adrian Lower said Manica needed to change his sexual desires and he wouldn’t get help to do that in prison because of the overcrowding there.

He made him subject to a two-year community order with a 90-day rehabilitative programme tackling his sexual behaviour, 30 days’ rehabilitative activities and 180 hours’ unpaid work.

Manica will also be on the sex offenders’ register and subject to a sexual harm prevention order enabling police to monitor his behaviour, both for five years.

He must pay a £60 statutory surcharge and £85 prosecution costs.

The woman “richly deserves compensation,” the judge said, adding: “But what price can I really put on what you did to (her).”  Any figure he ordered would be “wholly inadequate”, said the judge.

For Manica, solicitor Neal Kutte said: “This man is ashamed about what he has done. He is remorseful.”

Search terms on his mobile phone indicated a “troubled man”.  Manica had no intention of repeating his offences and had no other convictions. 

Mr Gott said the search terms had included “I am worried I am a paedophile …….should I commit suicide”.

Police had seized Manica’s phone when they searched a York address on March 10, 2022, the prosecutor said. 

On the phone they found four videos made when he upskirted the woman.

They also found two videos from another upskirting incident 14 days after the first, but were unable to identify who the victim was.

They also found 15 indecent pictures of children of the least serious kind that had been accessed between April 18, 2012, and April 8, 2017, some featuring children aged from four to seven.  Some of the images were no longer visible to the user without specialist knowledge.