A plumber has been jailed for installing hidden cameras in the toilets of his customers to spy on them when they use the facility.
Discover our latest podcast
James Hulme, 57, was arrested when a woman discovered the spy cameras in her downstairs toilet.
Breach of Trust
She had hired Hulme, of Sherwood, to do some work in her Clifton home in 2018. While he was still working on the property, the woman noticed a camera was attached to a sink.
She immediately confronted him, and he claimed responsibility for it but fled before the police could arrive. He was later tracked down and arrested and his home searched.
That was when they discovered that he had filmed several other customers by hiding recording devices in their bathrooms. Police also found more than 300 indecent images of children on his home computers, as well as images involving animals.
He pleaded guilty to secretly recording the customer and ‘five or six others’ to meet his sexual needs. He however denied accessing child abuse material or content with animals.
PC Jonathan Cooper, who investigated Hulme’s criminality, said:
This was a gross breach of trust and invasion of privacy in a pre-meditated manner for his own sexual gratification. These offences were gross and his victims will no doubt live with this forever.
Warning
He also pleaded guilty to voyeurism, making indecent images of a child and possessing extreme pornographic images. He was jailed for 12 months by the Nottingham Crown Court on Wednesday, October 27.
Cooper hopes his would serve as deterrent to others.
I hope this outcome serves not only as a comfort to Hulme’s victims and their families, but also as a warning to others who might be tempted to engage in voyeurism. His convictions for making indecent images of a child and possessing extreme pornographic images should also serve as a stark a warning to others that such criminality does have consequences.
