Kid's Playcentre Boss Had Secret Cameras

Camera Fan: Johnson

The wealthy boss of a well-known children’s soft play centre chain face an anxious overnight wait to hear his fate after filming two 14 year-old girls undressing and also recording female toilet users at his family-friendly business. 

Darren Johnson, 51, resigned in disgrace from Eddie Catz after his double life was exposed when caught filming the two 14 schoolgirls changing in a swimming pool cubicle.

Today he appeared at Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court, where Judge Andrew Campbell bailed him to return tomorrow for sentencing.

He founded the nationwide play centre, which has a tie-in with Mothercare, with his wife Maria over a decade ago and the couple share a £1.3m home.

Police raided the house and seized nearly 700 clips, mostly made up of recording his Earlsfield centre’s female staff in their changing room and toilets.

Johnson, of

Rodway Road, Putney Village pleaded guilty to five counts of voyeurism for sexual gratification between January 1, 2005 and June 12, 2017.

His double-life was exposed when the teenage girls spotted Johnson filming them with his iPhone under the cubicle divider at Putney Leisure Centre on June 5, last year.

A previous court heard was told the girls were “very distressed” and police raided dad-of-two Johnson’s home on June 12.

Officers seized his computers, where they found images of women undressing during years of secret filming at Eddie Catz centre in Earlsfield.

Bad News Looming: Johnson

Prosecutor Miss Lauren Sales told the court today: “There is CCTV that shows the defendant stalking children around the leisure centre. He stalks them to the shower area and then stalks them to the cubicle next to him.

“There was a twelve year-old he was following as well. It is all clear on the CCTV.”

Johnson says he rowed with his wife that morning and had consumed a bottle of wine before arriving at the centre.

“On that occasion the two fourteen year-old girls had attended their school swimming class. 

“Mr. Johnson is seen on CCTV walking around the changing facility. He has gone to the swimming pool and walked around the centre with no particular purpose.

“It’s the two fourteen year-old girls he follows and he purposefully enters the cubicle next to them.”

While undressing the girls see Johnson’s iPhone 6 filming them under the cubicle partition. 

They did not see Johnson, but spotted his distinctive rucksack in the cubicle, which was later picked up on the leisure centre’s CCTV.

He did not keep recordings of the girls and still insists he was not stalking youngsters, but was evasive with police when quizzed about the leisure centre.

“He said he attended in order to shower because it was close to his work and then said he had a personal trainer and then said he’d never shower there because they were communal and dirty and then said he could not remember what he was doing and had memory problems,” added Miss Sales.

When police inspected his two password-protected laptops they found naked images of approximately 40 adult woman changing at the leisure centre, spread over 155 computer files.

“Adult females were in various states of undress at Putney Leisure Centre and they were taken under cubicles,” explained Miss Sales. “They were the most indecent, showing female genitalia and naked breasts.”

At his Earlsfield play centre Johnson had strategically hanged bags in three toilets and the female staff changing rooms, having already made a tiny hole in them to allow filming.

He used a motion-sensor camera to capture the images.

“Images using peepholes in different female public lavatories at the children’s soft play centre, showing female genitalia. They show women using the lavatory.”

The centres’ three public toilets, Pink, Green and White all featured in the recordings as well as the female staff changing room.

“Female employees using private changing rooms at the children’s play centre and they are in various states of undress.

“That is around 376 files, though some are duplicates.

“There are a huge number of images and these images have been cherry-picked out of many images because they are the most graphic.” 

Johnson’s lawyer Mr. Tom Williams said his client was married with children aged 18 and 20 years-old and of good character and receiving counselling from a psychosexual therapist.

“When arrested he immediately resigned and has not stepped foot in Eddie Catz since.”

Johnson claims the filming was restricted to a short period in 2007 and between 2016 and last year. 

He now also attends AA, plus Sex Addicts Anonymous, couples counselling and receives cognitive behaviour therapy and been told he has ADHD.