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Father-of-three branded a 'pervert' - for photographing his own children in public park
Last updated at 02:46am on 16.07.08
When Gary Crutchley started taking pictures of his children playing on an inflatable slide he thought they would be happy reminders of a family day out.
But the innocent snaps of seven-year-old Cory, and Miles, five, led to him being called a ‘pervert’.
The woman running the slide at Wolverhampton Show asked him what he was doing and other families waiting in the queue demanded that he stop.
Picture of innocence: The photograph Gary Crutchley took of his sons Cory and Miles
One even accused him of photographing youngsters to put the pictures on the internet.
Mr Crutchley, 39, who had taken pictures only of his own children, was so enraged that he found two policemen who confirmed he had done nothing wrong.
Yesterday he said: ‘What is the world coming to when anybody seen with a camera is assumed to be doing things that they should not?
‘This parental paranoia is getting completely out of hand. I was so shocked. One of the police officers told me that it was just the way society is these days. He agreed with me that it was madness.’
Father-of-three Mr Crutchley, a consultant for a rubber manufacturer from Walsall, West Midlands, was with his wife Tracey and their sons when the pleasant Sunday afternoon out turned sour.
He said: ‘The children wanted to go on an inflatable slide and I started taking photos of them having a good time. Moments later the woman running the slide told me to stop.
‘When I asked why, she told me I could not take pictures of other people’s children. I explained I was only interested in taking photos of my own children and pointed out that this was taking place in a public park.
‘I showed her the photos I had taken to prove my point. Then another woman joined in and said her child was also on the slide and did not want me taking pictures of the youngster.
All together now, smile: Gary and Tracey with Cory, left, and Miles
‘I repeated that the only people being photographed were my own children. She said I could be taking pictures of just any child to put on the internet and called me a pervert. We immediately left the show.’
Mrs Crutchley, 37, a teaching support assistant and qualified nursery nurse, said: ‘I was shocked by the reaction of those women.
'It is very sad when every man with a camera enjoying a Sunday afternoon out in the park with his children is automatically assumed to be a pervert.’
The slide was run by Tracey Dukes, 35, whose father Malcolm Gwinnett has an inflatables hire company.
Mr Gwinnett, 58, a LibDem councillor in Wolverhampton, said: ‘Our policy is to ask people taking photos whether they have children on the slide. If they do, then that is fine.
‘But on this occasion another customer took exception to what the man was doing and an argument developed between those two people that continued without any further involvement from staff on the slide.’
Reader views (30)
This is really bizarre. It reminds me of how we laughed when we were told that some tribes though a photo would 'capture one's soul'... How can a picture of a fully clothed child in a public place (whether indeed one of my own kids or one of yours) harm anyone?
Do we really believe that pedophiles want such material - and for what ends I ask? Do we really believe that there is a pervert lurking behind every tree, the so called 'stranger danger' forgetting that the vast majority of abusers are known and trusted by their victims..
So too, why should I 'understand and respect' the views of these odd-balls who are frightened by anything the Daily Mail or Fox (Sky) News tells them? We are now fast approaching the point where to even question the verity of such opinions is to have one damned along with the (supposed) pervert! Anyone recall Salem and the witch trials, where denial of knowledge was the same as intent to conspire?? Also how do CCTV photos make one safe, but park pictures make one at risk? Both very silly ideas!
Hmm Either the percentage of perverts in the population has rocketed since I lived in the UK went to the park, alone and fully clothed, when a kid, or our fears have rocketed instead? Do you want a generation afraid of everything? We are getting near that here, after 9/11 - DO NOT JOIN US!!!
- Doug A, Portland USA, 12/04/2010 19:11
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Philip, please don't be daft.
- Farzooks Gadzilla, Luton, Beds, UK, 07/01/2010 18:28
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It is totally legal to take photographs of whatever you like in a public place, if you try to stop this, it would be you breaking the law. I have a suggestion Philip, dont take your children to the park. Society has already gone mad without risk averse twits fueling it.
- Andrew, Bradford, England, 17/11/2009 20:04
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Geoff Bishop said "The whole country is going mad, thanks to the pc brigade"
What has any of this got to do with political correctness? Answer: absolutely nothing. A load of paranoid cranks with their quivering fingers on the paedo accusation trigger is in no way related to the erosion ones rights to be a casual racist/sexist/xenophobe and not get called on it. Statistically there is a 92% chance of at least one english person saying that something "is political correctness gone mad" every time absolutely anything is discussed.
- Charles Legitimate Iii, Dublin, Ireland, 29/10/2009 11:39
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The whole country is going mad, thanks to the pc brigade and the media. I have two children to my x wife. When they were in their early years, not so long back, i to, as new parent had all kinds of fears for thier welfare. Photo,s by strangers was one of them. But i learnt very quickly that if i did not take photos of them , the memories would fade of great days out, parties, evenings at home would all be gone eventualy and we would have nothing to look back on. My children and myself now take great pleasure in looking through the family photos. I particuly like the early ones when we were a family. and yes, some of the photos do contain pics of children i do not know. but may be my children might. I think these witch hunters are the ones that need to grow up.
- Geoffrey Bishop, southport england, 12/10/2009 15:02
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This is really sad. The UK is sinking into a country that I don't recognize. I feel that the US is taking the same route. It's scary.
- Anna, Iowa, USA, 18/09/2009 00:38
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'Seems fair enough' Luciano? What planet are you from?
His kids, his camera, public place.
Parents have more to worry about their kids being stabbed than being targeted by a pervert.
- Pete, Chelmsford, UK, 17/09/2009 23:38
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I believe those mothers were really worried about their own perverted minds. Maybe the real pervert was sitting in the corner watching this show.
- Dan Almaral, Havana City, Cuba, 17/09/2009 23:38
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Oh for god's sake Phillip, get a life. It's people like you who are feeding the paranoia of the mentally deficient majority in Britain.
- Casper Slides, Ibiza, Spain, 17/09/2009 23:38
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What people do not realise is that it is perfectly legal to take photographs of anything that you want in a public place. If someone tries to stop you then they are breaking the law.
- David, Blackpool UK, 17/09/2009 23:38
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Of course he is entitled to take photos of his own children. On the other hand, I have children, and it does worry me about people taking their photos while they are in the park etc. Once we were at a charity event that had press coverage, and I had to tell a journalist to delete photos they had taken of my son without permission or identifying themselves. (Annoyingly I later learned that the local journalist had specifically been told to ask / identify themselves and had simply ignored this). Forgive the pun, but this issue of photographs is not 'black and white'.
- Philip, London, England, 17/09/2009 23:38
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If perverts want pictures of kids in ordinary clothes doing ordinary things they only have to look at the Next catalogue! Why should people not take pictures of children to help set a scene? Some of the best photos ever taken involve children unrelated to the photographer. This fixation with paedophiles has got seriously out of hand. And, no, I am not a pervert and, yes, I do have children...
- Paul, London, 17/09/2009 23:38
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Chris Morris had it right when he made the episode on Brasseye - Paedogedon. Sadly nothing is sacred anymore.
- Fly, london, 17/09/2009 23:38
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This seems fair enough to me. He could have been a pervert - people were diligent enough to challenge him - and he wasn't a pervert. No actual harm has been done. Everyone is safe. How on earth did it get into the "news"?
- Luciano, Bristol, 17/09/2009 23:38
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At some point soon these nutter parents will be asking people to avert their gaze from the direction of children. Honestly, are you all so small minded that you think a photo of a child on a slide is going to turn a paedophile on.
Is everybody aware that paedophiles has not increased it has just been more widely reported on.
We will destroy the childhoods of generations if we insist on covering our children in cotton wool 'just in case' of any possible eventuality
- Delphi, london, 17/09/2009 23:38
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Woe be an amateur photographer looking for practice. So long as the kids aren't being harassed or are nude, anyone should be able to photograph them. Also, if a person couldn't take a photograph that contained anyone aside from their intended subject there would be significantly less photographs in the world.
- Kellie, Loxley, Alabama, 17/09/2009 23:38
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Philip,
What on earth do you (or anyone else for that matter, including the woman in this story) think someone will do with photos of your children, fully dressed, playing in a park?
Stop to think how stupidly and un-necessarily paranoid you sound.
I know of some local parents who have adopted children who do not want them photographed because they do not want their convicted abusive father finding them - but they are very careful where they go because of this.
If you don't want your kids photographed, don't take them to a public place!
- Joe, Marlow, England, 17/09/2009 23:38
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There seems to be a troubling movement against photographers in the UK. Many people are starting to believe things like "Photographing children is illegal", and this is turning into "Photographing Police is illegal". I'm very glad that in this case, the police could state the law correctly. There are too many under trained PCSOs that are harassing photographers.
Even more worrying is that the more expensive your equipment, the more harassed you are likely to be. Despite 5Mpixel tiny camera phones, and high resolution cheap point and shoots, snapping away everywhere, if you spend over a grand on your equipment, you are suddenly a terrorist/pervert.
I believe this is a side effect of a deliberate political effort to make us live in unjustified fear of terrorists / bad people, so that the government can look good by spending money to "stop the bad people". This is a worrying trend, and we should really start to hold our politicians, and newspapers to account for spreading this unjustified fear.
We did not have this much fear in the 80s when the IRA were exploding bombs in London. Why is there so much fear today?
- Alex, Aylesbury, UK, 17/09/2009 23:38
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Perhaps the mothers are afraid that the camera will steal the spirits of their children.
This is fairly common among ignorant peoples.
- John Harlow, Snellville, GA, USA, 17/09/2009 23:38
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That we are actually debating this on a discussion thread saddens me. There are people in the United Kingdom who, even after reading a reasonably clear news article, come away from it thinking that what this fellow did was wrong?
I hope this sort of incident does not occur frequently.
- Susan, Cambridge, MA, United States, 17/09/2009 23:38
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There are more 10,000 surveillance cameras in London, is this not more worrying than a father photographing his children?
"A CCTV camera for every 14 citizens."
David Davis, resignation statement, 12 June 2008
- Wally, Wales, 17/09/2009 23:38
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This was caused by sexism.
Soon we won't be able to have class photo's anymore.
- Lucifer, Heaven, 17/09/2009 23:38
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I am a photographer and often take photos of kids at public events. I then often hand out my card to the parents telling them I will send them a digital copy if they want it. Not one parent has ever said no nor have they written to ask for the free photo. Of course I am not a male so it maybe different for them. But seriously people photographers with good equipment are not out there stalking your kids. We are looking for interesting moments that please our artistic eye. As long as we are not marketing the photo we do not need permission to photgraph people in public. If we want to do soemthing commericial with the photo then we have to have releases from anyone who is identifiable.
In this case the man was taking photos of his own kids! He does not need permission from anyone to take photos of his own kids. If the mom didn't want her child photographed she has the right to ask him not to and that is all she had the right to do. Once he stand he was only photographing his own kids she should have walked away not harassed him. And yes there was harm done because of the anxiety this busybody and ride attendant caused with their interference.
People have gotten way over board with the whole hysteria about stranger danger and the fear they teach their children that everyone you meet is a pervert out to get you! What kind of life is this generation having??? Let's be reasonable and use the common sense God gave all of us at birth!
- Ladyfotoartistusa, Bridgton, ME, 17/09/2009 23:38
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Luciano, how is it "safe" when people doing perfectly normal things get publicly accused of being perverts? If that's your idea of a safe society, I'd rather live somewhere dangerous.
- Andy, London, 17/09/2009 23:38
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Unfortunately Philip, it is Black and White. In a public place, anyone can take photos of anyone - There is no law that says to the contrary.
Your permission is not required.
Anyway. Why does it concern you that someone is taking pictures of your children? What can they possibly do to your child? Steal their spirit?
- Dt, Harrow, UK, 17/09/2009 23:38
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Sad.
- Penny, Jersey, 17/09/2009 23:38
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These pathetic people should realise that it would be far easier for a real pervert to pop into Mothercare and pick up their clothing catalogue, it chock full of photos of children in all manner of clothing. What are you all so worried about?
- Steph, Ilford, 17/09/2009 23:38
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You have a simple choice if you don't want your children photographed in public - don't allow them out in public.
- Peter, Battersea, 17/09/2009 23:38
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This madness is spreading everywhere with councils in Sydney attempting to impose bans on photography when they have no legal right to. Mr Crutchley should have threatened this idiotic woman with a slander suit. What is going through these fools minds-do they think their children's souls will be captured by the camera?
What about the school class photos? They could end up in anyone's hands. People should think with their brains instead of acting hysterically.
- Michael, Sydney, Australia, 17/09/2009 23:38
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Casper / DT -- do you actually have children? DT -- I am right to be worried because I don't know (and neither do you) what someone might do with a photograph they might take of mine or any other children; and in this specific case I was correct in my challenge as the journalist had been invited on the understanding that they asked permission before taking photos.
- Philip, London, England, 17/09/2009 23:38
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