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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Hamilton Advertiser

Pervert hid camera to film females showering or using the toilet

A man hid a camera in a bathroom to film females showering or using the toilet.

One shocked victim identified herself in a photograph.

James Closs, 51, of Bellshill Road, was jailed for 18 months at Hamilton Sheriff Court last week.

He admitted using cameras disguised as other items to record images.

He also admitted possessing indecent images of the child victim, who is now an adult.

Jennifer McLaren, prosecuting, said the girl became suspicious while taking a shower in July 2018.

She noticed a light flashing on what looked like a battery charger that was facing the shower.

She discovered a camera hidden within the device and challenged Closs, who denied it was a camera.

However, cameras disguised as a plug and an alarm clock were found later in a bedroom at another address.

Closs eventually admitted that he’d set up the cameras to record females, including the girl.

Asked by police why he’d done it, he replied: “Perversion. It was for my viewing only.”

Some of the footage recovered showed the girl in a state of undress in the bedroom.

There was also a 15-minute video of her showering.

Ms McLaren said further footage showed other unidentified females in the bathroom.

Defence agent Ian Scott said first offender Closs had been assessed by social workers who considered the risk of further offending to be low.

Mr Scott added: “He was most anxious that the young victim should not be required to come to court and pleaded guilty at an early stage.”

However, Sheriff Douglas Brown rejected an appeal for a community-based sentence.

He told Closs: “This offence involved a high degree of planning and specialist equipment, with cameras disguised as other objects."

And he added: “The offence involved not only observing private acts but making numerous recordings.

“The only appropriate sentence is prison.”

Sheriff Brown reduced the sentence from 24 months to 18 because of Closs’s guilty plea.

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