A British Airways pilot accused of secretly filming himself having sex with an air hostess was told ‘don’t get caught’ by a friend he sent the video to, a court has heard.
Tim Capron, 38, is on trial accused of voyeurism after he took a photograph and two videos of himself having sex with a blindfolded member of BA’s cabin crew – who he met through the dating app Tinder – and sent them to another BA pilot.
The complainant, who said she consented to the sexual activity but never consented to being photographed or filmed, told jurors she later angrily confronted the defendant after spotting the phone.
In a text message read out in court, the complainant said of Capron: ‘I do not know what your game was to be honest. If it is a contest to brag about sha***** crew then crack on. I still haven’t decided what I am going to do if I am honest.’
Capron responded: ‘None of that is true. It is sad you could think that of me.’
The defendant sent the footage to Steven Farnworth, another pilot who told the court he met Capron at flight school six years prior to the incident in September 2021, and both worked for BA afterwards.
Text messages showed Capron texted Mr Farnworth on the night of the incident to say: ‘When I have got her blindfolded, is it safe for you to see a few videos?’
When Capron sent a picture to Mr Farnworth, he texted back: ‘Fan dabby dozey.’
In a later message, Mr Farnworth wrote: ‘Don’t get caught.’
Former British Airways pilot Tim Capron ‘secretly’ filmed a member of cabin crew during sex and sent videos to another BA pilot, a court heard
Mr Farnworth said in a statement, dated October 31, 2022, that he had only given the picture he was sent by Capron – which showed the complainant – a ‘fleeting glance’.
Other messages days after the incident showed Capron wrote to Mr Farnworth about the complainant, saying: ‘She’s f****** annoying though.’
In a prepared statement, read out to Reading Crown Court on Tuesday, Capron said he ‘felt terrible’ after realising the complainant was distressed about what happened and said there was ‘no malicious intent’ in taking the images.
‘Doing so when the complainant was blindfolded and in a dark room, I thought would ensure we were both anonymous’, Capron said.
He said the complainant told him she had previously been ‘blackmailed’ over intimate images by another partner, which he said suggested she had previously engaged in similar activities before.
The court heard the issue in the case was whether Capron, of Taplow in Maidenhead, Berkshire, knew the complainant did not consent to the recording. He denies one count of voyeurism.
Oxford-graduate Capron revealed he had a previous conviction for possessing extreme pornography, as he began giving evidence in court.
Capron, who graduated with an MA in biology from Christchurch college before joining BA as a graduate in 2009 aged 22, had been given a conditional discharge over the incident.
Capron graduated with an MA in biology from Christchurch college before joining BA as a graduate in 2009 aged 22 (Stock photo)
Jenni Dempster KC, defending, told Capron: ‘During the course of this investigation, we heard your phone was examined and what is described as an extreme pornographic image, a single video in fact, was found on that phone.
‘As a result of the police finding that single video, it became clear that was a video you had received from a friend, then forwarded to another friend in January 2019, extreme pornography of an adult nature.
‘You were charged with possession of extreme pornography and on August 10, 2023, you pleaded guilty at the magistrates court in Reading and you received a six-month conditional discharge, so if you committed no further offence in those six months – which you did not – you would not be punished for that offence.’
Capron confirmed that was correct and that he had no other previous convictions or cautions.
He told jurors he had been single at the time, had never been married or had children and remained single today.
Capron said he had not been on Tinder since the incident, stating: ‘I have not felt it appropriate at all to be on any sort of dating application or anything like that, because I do not feel it is appropriate.
‘If I was going to engage in a relationship with someone, I would feel I need to tell them everything going on’, he added. ‘I am carrying so much baggage with me at the moment, it is just not the right thing to do.’
At the time he matched on Tinder, Capron said he had been looking for a long-term relationship, after spending Covid fearing redundancy as the aviation industry was rocked by the financial impact of lockdowns.