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The level of sexual harassment that women experience while walking the streets of London was exposed today in shocking new footage.

A woman wanders the streets of the capital for hours and is subjected to unwanted stares, remarks from strangers about her appearance - and at one point a man takes photographs of her from behind.

The woman – part-time comedian and writer Naomi Hefter – was being filmed as she walked through the city as part of an ITV investigation into sexual harassment in the UK.

At one point in the video, which was filmed covertly, she stops at a crossing and becomes aware of a man, laden with professional-looking cameras, behind her.

Without talking to Ms Hefter, the man bends over and begins to photograph the lower part of her body from behind.

When Ms Hefter confronts him, he insists he is allowed to take photos of whatever he wants.

And when she asks him to delete the picture, he responds: “If you ask me with a smile, I will do it.”

She said the incident left her feeling "violated."

Harassment Uncovered – Tonight, which airs at 7.30pm tonight, discovered that more than half of women in London had been sexually harassed by strangers on the streets or in public spaces.

Of the 513 18 to 34-year-old women questioned, 53.5 per cent said they had suffered verbal or physical abuse in public and 56.7 per cent admitted to experiencing it in one of London’s bars or clubs.

And more than half these women said the harassment they were subject to has left them in fear of violence – or even led to a violent situation.

The investigation comes after British Transport Police saw almost 900 reports of sexual crimes in the last across London’s Tube network – an increase of 20 per cent from the previous year.

It is running a campaign, alongside Transport for London, to encourage people to report such incidents.

But still 41 per cent of women fear for their safety after being heckled or harassed in London.

Ms Hefter walked around the capital for four hours and, during that time, endured comments about her appearance and lingering looks and stares.

She said she has suffered from sexual harassment in the past, which has even led to men following her while walking home.

“I must’ve been 15 or 16 coming home from college and a guy on a bike stopped and touched me and from then to now it could be as little as a beep in a car to men even following me," she said.

Referring to the man who took a photos of her on the street, she added: “The idea of how he thought it was okay to do that, the entitlement, is just beyond belief. I felt quite violated by it.”

Rachel Krys of the End Violence Against Women Coalition said: “Sexual harassment is not a come on, it’s not a precursor to a relationship, it’s about men controlling what women do and wanting to stop women being free to walk down the streets, to just take the space that they’re entitled to.

“It’s about saying, ‘I’m in control of this space, I’m in control of you, I have a right to comment on your body, to comment on what you’re wearing.’

“And so it’s a really important issue that we need to challenge, and it’s the men we need to challenge, and we need to stop the perpetrators harassing women in the street.”

Harassment Uncovered - Tonight is on ITV at 7.30pm on Thursday.