Peterborough landlord installed secret camera to spy on 17-year-old female tenant

The 30-year-old from Peterborough, who can’t be named for legal reasons, offered the 17-year-old a room to stay in his home in June 2019 after she put a post on social media.

The teenager moved in but was unhappy with the level of attention her new landlord gave her, later telling officers it made her feel uncomfortable.

The man often paid her compliments, asked for kisses, asked her to wear his wife’s clothes and suggested she joined a dating app to make money. On one occasion he offered the teenager £200 to sleep with him.

She also found his tablet and checked his search history, which revealed he had searched for secret cameras to buy on the internet. In particular, the man had searched for one that was the same as a bedside clock he’d installed in the girl’s room.

The teenager realised he had been recording her undressing and possibly even being intimate with her partner.

She packed her bags to leave less than one month later, but as she did so the man returned to the house. The teenager challenged him about what she’d seen and told him she was going to police.

She took the tablet and the camera clock and handed these over to police when she made her report.

The man was arrested three days later, on 20 July 2019. His home was searched where officers discovered the box that the covert camera was delivered in addressed to the man.

The tablet, covert camera and its SD card were analysed. Evidence of voyeurism was found on the SD card from the covert camera and matching videos were saved and found on the tablet.

In police interview, the man told officers he had bought a covert camera hidden in a bedside clock but had put this in his living room for security reasons, and had told the teenager about this.

He claimed he treated the teenager as a friend and had never offered her cash for sex. The man denied entering the teenager’s bedroom, placing the camera there or filming any private act with the device.

However, the defendant admitted voyeurism at Cambridge Crown Court on 13 October. He was sentenced at the same court today (11 February), where he was handed 16 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months. He was also handed a four-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.

Detective Constable Pete Wise, who investigated, said: “The details of this case are what many would describe as nothing short of a nightmare.

“I can only imagine the victim’s horror when she discovered the clock in her bedroom was in fact something much more sinister.

“The defendant in this case took advantage of a vulnerable teenage girl. He offered her a place to stay but, in the end, abused her trust by privately filming her and watching the videos back at his own leisure.

“I hope this conviction gives the victim a sense of closure and allows her to move on from this traumatic period of her life.”