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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Nicole Wootton-Cane

Voyeur caught secretly installing camera in shower gel bottle to target victim

A voyeur who secretly installed a camera in his victim’s shower gel bottle has been jailed over a string of “deeply invasive” crimes spanning a decade.

Jean-Pierre Francis covertly took hundreds of videos of six women using hidden devices stored in pens, USB sticks, and plugs, in an “abuse of everyday technology”, police said. The devices were hidden in the women’s homes and workplaces.

He pleaded guilty to six counts of voyeurism and was jailed for three years and six months at Northampton Crown Court.

Police said the 33-year-old’s offending was uncovered in May 2024 after one woman found a hidden camera in the bedroom of her Northampton home.

Officers identified Francis as a suspect and forensic examination of his devices revealed hundreds of videos and images that Francis had taken between 2015 and 2025 using discreet cameras.

The videos were filmed using a variety of hidden cameras, and targeted six women aged in their 20s-60s, police said.

A destruction order was also made in relation to all of the devices Francis used to offend, and he was also handed a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order which prevents him from owning any phone with a camera, and any other recording devices. He will also be on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.

He was sentenced at Northampton Crown Court (Tony Marshall/PA) (PA Archive)

Lead investigator detective constable Georgia Sampson, said: “Jean-Pierre Francis carried out sustained and deeply invasive offending, abusing everyday technology to violate the privacy of his victims in places where they should have felt safest.”

She added the force’s priority was to “give the victims a voice” and that she hoped the outcome “allows them to move forward”.

“This was a complex and highly technical investigation, involving the meticulous examination of multiple devices spanning a decade of offending, and it ultimately exposed the true scale of his behaviour,” she continued.

"I want to pay particular tribute to PC Sean Taylor from our Digital Media Investigation Team, whose expertise and persistence in downloading and analysing a vast quantity of digital material was instrumental in securing this conviction.

“Tackling violence against women and girls is a priority for Northamptonshire Police and we will continue working hard to put more people like Francis behind bars.”

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