August 2012

‘Nessie’ bottled water entrepreneur secretly filmed young girls in shower – Admits guilt

An entrepreneur who sold bottled water from Loch Ness is to face sentencing for secretly filming young girls as they showered.

Brian Ball, 46, also inappropriately touched two girls and was found in possession of indecent images of children at addresses in Turriff, Aberdeenshire.

Ball, who cashed in on the legend of Nessie by flogging £6 bottles of undrinkable water to foreigners on eBay, committed the offences over a two-year period.

The former shop manager hit the headlines in 2004 when he revealed he raked in cash from heritage-starved Americans willing to pay for a memento from Loch Ness.

He received hundreds of orders from overseas and sold-off the water at a price of £3.99 plus £2.38 postage and packaging.

The product, labelled with an image of Nessie and a warning that the water was not safe to drink, even drew interest from distribution companies in England and the US who wanted to go into partnership with Ball.

But the entrepreneur has now landed himself in court and admitted a string of serious charges relating to children.

At Peterhead Sheriff Court earlier this month, he pleaded guilty to taking, making or permitting indecent images of children to be taken.

The court previously heard that five young girls under the age of 16 were filmed showering in houses between July 2009 and October last year.

The court heard cameras were hidden in bathrooms and footage taken of schoolchildren undressing and washing.

The images were then uploaded into his computer and stored in a hard drive, pen drive and mobile phone.

The shocking footage was uncovered when a family member looked on the computer for holiday photos.

Ball also admitted using lewd, indecent and libidinous practices and behaviour towards a girl as young as ten, between September 2008 and September 2010.

He admitted behaving in the same manner towards a girl as young as 13, between February 2009 and February 2010.

He also admitted having indecent images of children at his home in Turriff between July 2009 and October last year.

Defence agent Stuart Flowerdew previously said Ball did not remember committing any of the offences.

Ball, who moved from London to Scotland in 2003, was due to be sentenced on Thursday but a sex offender assessment had not been completed.

He was remanded in custody until he faces sentence next month.