Former Scout Leader Nicholas Sherwood jailed for filming children

Nicholas Sherwood was a Scout or Beaver Scout Leader for nearly 30 years.
At a hearing earlier this month at Exeter Crown Court, he was jailed for 22 months.
He was caught when police found thousands of indecent images on his computer, as well as a video camera hidden in his wardrobe, which was used to secretly film boys getting changed.
Videos were filmed between June 2008 to August 2020 – which included his time in the Scout movement. He was a scout or cub leader 1988 – 2015, and a Beaver Scouts leader 1996 – 2015.
He was charged with at least eight separate occasions of voyeurism. He admitted this, and four counts of downloading or possessing child abuse images.
Sherwood, of Mill Road, Bradworthy, initially claimed he had installed the cameras to prevent the children bullying each other.
Parents and Sherwood’s fellow group leaders had expressed concerns about him in the past, after which he was removed from his role.
On sentencing, Deputy Circuit Judge Neil Davey QC said
“For nearly 30 years you were a Scout or Beaver Scout leader and you shamelessly took advantage of that…. “The boys were recorded in a place where they were entitled to believe was private and you violated that privacy. This sentence must be immediate because of the scale of the offending and the gross breach of the trust of the children and their parents.”