A man caught recording colleagues when they used the toilet has been spared jail.
Andrew Cox, 38, put a mobile phone in a cubicle at work so he could record other people.
He was rumbled in March 2024 when a fellow member of staff spotted the secret camera, which had recorded him setting it up and hiding it under a rag.
He tried to blame being bullied at school and in the workplace for his behaviour, but a judge found he had a ‘niche sexual interest’ and handed him a suspended prison sentence for voyeurism.
When his devices were examined by police, they found a substantial amount of evidence along with five pictures of men and women involved in bestiality.
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Describing the moment Cox was caught, prosecutor Heather Bell said: ‘[A colleague] found the phone recording. [Another colleague] played back the recording and found Andrew Cox placing the phone in situ.
‘One man was recorded undoing his trousers revealing his genitals before using the toilet. He was recorded using the toilet twice over a nearly two hours of recording.
‘The defendant was arrested on the next occasion he returned to the workplace and two mobile phones and a laptop were seized.
‘There was a substantial amount of evidence in messages and videos in relation to the offence of voyeurism. This was not an isolated incident. It happened on multiple occasions.’
Defending him, Joanne Black said he was mortified by what he had done and terrified of going to prison.
He also claimed that the bestiality pictures had been shared by his manager on a workplace WhatsApp group
She added: ‘Three of the extreme pornography videos were sent to him by his manager, one was sent on a group chat and the other by a friend. He said: “I was not interested”, but it puts you in a very awkward position when the manager sends you something of that nature.’
District Judge Ian Barnes said: ‘You clearly have a niche sexual interest regarding videoing people involved in a private act. You were not satisfied to limit your access to material on the internet but sought to create your own content.
‘You betrayed the trust of colleagues. I am sure they felt sick and violated that they were being filmed whilst using the toilet. Whilst the public would expect an immediate custodial sentence you would not have the targeted intervention you quite clearly need to challenge your thinking and behaviour in the hope of preventing this type of offending occurring again.’
Cox was handed a 15-week prison sentence suspended for 18 months and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for seven years.
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