Sisters Confront Men Who Filmed Up Their Dresses on Manchester Night Out

Two sisters have spoken publicly about the "complete violation" they experienced when they were secretly filmed from behind while walking through Manchester city centre, saying the men responsible "chose the wrong girls" to target.

Georgia Scholes, 25, and her sister Alex, 22, had just left a restaurant in the Spinningfields area of the city when they noticed two men following them unusually closely up a set of stairs, with one of the men holding his mobile phone at an awkward angle.

Georgia, an actress known for her role in the ITV crime drama The Bay, said she sensed immediately that something was wrong before the full realisation of what was happening struck her. She described the moment of understanding as devastating, saying her heart sank and that she felt utterly violated by what the men had done.

The pair say they challenged the men directly and asked repeatedly for the recording to be deleted. Georgia recounted breaking down in tears as the reality of the situation set in, describing the distress of knowing that footage had been captured beneath her dress and that she had no control over what might happen to it afterwards.

According to her account, one of the men began shouting while the other remained strangely close to her, and one of them then attempted to flee the scene. Alex responded by removing her heels and chasing after him, determined not to let the men simply walk away from what they had done.

Greater Manchester Police confirmed that two men, aged in their twenties and thirties, were arrested on suspicion of voyeurism following the alleged incident, which took place on Deansgate on 19 September. The force said both men have since been released on bail while further enquiries continue.

The sisters said the intervention of a door supervisor proved decisive. A bouncer stepped in to stop one of the men, and both were subsequently arrested. Georgia suggested that without that intervention, the men might have escaped any consequences, leaving her to live with the knowledge of what had happened without any accountability.

Georgia also expressed frustration that bystanders failed to help while she and her sister were pleading for assistance, saying not a single person reacted despite the obvious distress the women were in. That sense of isolation, she indicated, compounded the trauma of the incident itself.

Reflecting on the aftermath, Georgia said she woke the following morning overwhelmed with sadness, feeling as though she had spent the entire night having to justify what had happened to her. She described going out feeling confident after having her hair and make-up done, only for that sense of wellbeing to be stripped away in an instant.

She also criticised the response she received when reporting the matter, saying the first question a female police officer asked her was whether she was certain the man had been recording her. Georgia said this planted a seed of doubt rather than offering reassurance.

Alex was equally forceful in her condemnation, saying the men had picked the wrong pair to target and that she and her sister would not be belittled or intimidated. She described the behaviour as a complete display of disrespect that tainted every positive emotion they had felt earlier in the evening, and she stressed that she would not allow anyone to violate her, her sister, or anybody else in that way and simply get away with it.

Both women argued that upskirting is a crime that is too often minimised and normalised, to the point where victims feel they are expected to accept it as an inevitable part of going out. They said the appropriate response should be to call out such behaviour and treat it as the serious offence it is.

Georgia further argued that telling women to be hyper-vigilant on nights out, to watch their surroundings and monitor their drinks, is not a genuine solution. She described such advice as little more than a plaster over a far larger problem, shifting responsibility onto potential victims rather than addressing the conduct of perpetrators.

The case adds to growing concern about the prevalence of covert filming of women in public spaces. The BBC has previously reported on men secretly recording women during nights out and then profiting from the footage, highlighting how technology has made such abuse easier to carry out and harder to detect.

Upskirting became a specific criminal offence in England and Wales in 2019 following a long campaign, and those convicted can face imprisonment. Despite the legal change, campaigners argue that awareness, reporting and prosecution rates remain uneven, and that victims often face scepticism when they come forward.

The sisters' decision to speak publicly reflects a wider push by survivors to challenge the culture of silence and doubt that surrounds image-based sexual abuse. By describing their experience in detail, they hope to encourage other women to report incidents and to push back against the idea that harassment should simply be tolerated.

Greater Manchester Police has asked anyone with information about the incident to come forward as its investigation continues. The two arrested men remain on bail, and no charges have yet been announced.