A landlord has been fined £5,000, plus £500 in legal costs, 100 hours of unpaid work, and given 20 rehabilitation days.
He’s been spared jail, even after he was found to have made 183 videos of naked women, planting cameras in his tenants’ rooms so he could watch them showering and having sex.
Paul Dunster, 59, made the videos over a ten year period to ‘satisfy his sexual needs’.
He initially denied two charges of voyeurism, but later admitted making the secret videos after setting up cameras in the bedroom and bathroom of one of the properties he rented out.
In the Sexual Offences Act 2003, voyeurism is a relatively new offence. These cases often involve an individual filming someone without their consent. They contain a maximum sentence of two years.
Police raided the former security worker’s home in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and found two memory cards containing the voyeuristic videos.
The court heard that Dunster was landlord of seven flats, and had total outstanding mortgages of £870,000.
Prosecutor David Reid told Portsmouth Crown Court: “The first memory card had 18 videos which showed sexual encounters between men and women in the bedroom.
“Those videos lasted a total of 20 minutes but none of the tenants were aware of the camera.
“The second memory card was taken from the bathroom and showed women having baths and showers – women who were also totally unaware they were filmed.
“There was significant planning to this and it was an abuse of trust as the women were tenants.”
Judge David Melville QC said: “The residents would have been disgusted to know you had a camera set up in the bedroom to film people having sex.
“I’m sure people would also have been disgusted to know you set up a camera in the bathroom to satisfy your sexual needs. It is sad story and one which is disgusting.”