In 2018, the Offender Database recorded that 27-year-old Roshan Rai was jailed for over four years for a series of predatory offences, including the covert filming of school children. Rai—of Firs Lane, Folkestone, Kent—was sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court following an investigation that began in February 2017. It was reported that the alert was initially raised after an 11-year-old child was encouraged to post nude images of herself online by an individual claiming to be a 14-year-old boy from London.
The investigation established that the “teenager” was in fact Rai, who was using a false identity to groom the minor. When officers from the Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT) executed a search warrant at his Folkestone home, they seized a computer containing thousands of downloaded indecent images and videos, some of which were in the most serious category. The prosecution reported that a forensic examination of Rai’s mobile phone revealed further social media screenshots of children he had contacted.
Judicial Findings and Investigative Detail
The court reported that Rai’s offending extended into physical spaces through high-tech voyeurism. Canterbury Crown Court heard that a storage device recovered from his bedroom contained “upskirt” videos of unsuspecting school children and covert footage taken inside a communal swimming pool changing area. These videos showed children as young as three years old changing into their swimming costumes, proving a persistent and dangerous pattern of outraging public decency and voyeurism in Folkestone and surrounding areas.
Rai pleaded guilty to three counts of inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, along with charges of causing a child to watch a sexual act, outraging public decency, and voyeurism. On 9 November 2018, he was sentenced to four years and two months in prison. For his actions in Folkestone and Kent, he was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life, with the judge noting the calculated nature of his grooming and the extreme breach of privacy inflicted upon children in public facilities.
Status and Statutory Requirements
For the records reported in Kent, the status of Roshan Rai as of April 6, 2026, was as follows:
- Custodial Status: RELEASED (Served 4-year 2-month term; sentenced 2018; released on licence circa 2021).
- Sex Offenders Register: Notification requirements are active for life.
- SHPO Status: Subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
- DBS Status: Placed on the Barring List (Indefinite ban on working with children).
- Legal Status: CONVICTED (Inciting a child to sexual activity; Voyeurism; Outraging public decency; 9+ counts total).
- Judicial Oversight: Sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court; investigated by Kent Police.
- Criminal Record: Posed as a 14-year-old for grooming; Thousands of indecent images; Covert filming of children in changing rooms and “upskirting.”
- Origin: Firs Lane, Folkestone, Kent.
Monitoring and Public Protection
Rai is managed as a high-risk registered sex offender within the Folkestone area following his release from prison. Due to the nature of his conduct—specifically his use of “digital masquerading” to groom an 11-year-old and his use of hidden cameras in public swimming pools—his management is a critical priority for the Kent Police Public Protection Unit. Authorities state that his history of targeting toddlers as young as three in changing areas requires the most stringent monitoring of his movements near public leisure facilities.
As a registered sex offender for life, the then 27-year-old’s details are permanently logged on the national police database. Authorities state that his indefinite SHPO includes total bans on the possession of any unauthorized covert filming equipment and unannounced forensic inspections of all digital storage devices. Any failure to notify police of his movements in Folkestone, any attempt to access swimming pool facilities, or any unauthorized online contact with minors will result in immediate arrest and recall to prison to ensure the ongoing safety of the public from his demonstrated pattern of predatory voyeurism.
QUESTION – Given that the offender covertly filmed children as young as three in a public swimming pool changing area, do you believe that “Voyeurism in Public Leisure Facilities” should trigger a mandatory lifetime ban from all such venues across the UK?
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