[Reader-list] Heathrow guard ‘used scanner to leer at colleague’s naked body’

[Taha Mehmood]

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23818223-airport-worker-receives-police-warning-for-ogling-bodyscanner-images-of-woman.do

Heathrow guard ‘used scanner to leer at colleague’s naked body’
Rashid Razaq Rashid Razaq
24.03.10

A Heathrow  security guard faces the sack after a woman colleague
reported him for using a body scanner to take “naked” pictures of her.

Airport bosses have launched an investigation after John Laker, 25,
was alleged to have used the device meant to detect bombs and
explosives to look at a fellow employee's breasts.

Jo Margetson, 29, reported the guard as saying “I love those gigantic
tits” when she walked through the X-ray machine, and then said he
pressed a button to take a revealing photo.

Ms Margetson has taken leave following the incident. She said: “I
can't bear to think about the body scanner thing. I'm totally
traumatised. I've spoken to the police about it. I'm in too much of a
state to go to work.”

Mr Laker is the first airport worker to have been allegedly caught
abusing the body scanners, which were introduced by the Government in
the wake of the Christmas Day bomb plot by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

The machines work by producing full-body “nude” images of passengers
to locate hidden weapons or objects and give detailed outlines of the
genitalia.

Civil rights campaigners, who have opposed the devices for invasion of
privacy, said the case highlighted the potential for abuse and they
should be withdrawn immediately. Heathrow and Manchester airports
already have the scanners, with Gatwick and Birmingham to follow this
year.

Dylan Sharpe, campaign director of Big Brother Watch, said: “This
latest case serves to highlight the massive problems behind the
Government's speedy roll-out of the body scanner.

“There needs to be much more thought — how are those being employed
being trained and vetted and how dangerous is the radiation these
machines produce? Until that is done, Big Brother Watch is campaigning
for a complete suspension in the national roll-out of airport body
scanners.”

Heathrow refused to confirm whether Mr Laker has been suspended from
his job while the investigation is conducted. A spokeswoman for
airport operator BAA said: “We treat any allegations of inappropriate
behaviour or misuse of security equipment very seriously and these
claims are being investigated thoroughly. If found to be
substantiated, we will take appropriate action.”