Man filmed women in changing rooms
Thursday, 2 February 2012
AN ex-prison officer, who admitted spying on women in a state of undress at a local supermarket, has been placed on the sex offenders' register for five years and ordered to undergo an 18 month sexual offences treatment programme. Antrim Crown Court heard Paul Williamson, from the Long Commons area of Coleraine, admitted to nine counts of voyeurism to obtain sexual gratification on dates unknown between February 2 and June 23, 2009.
The court heard how Williamson, formerly from Ballymoney, rigged up his mobile phone to watch females getting changed, three of whom were naked from the waist up and one who was trying on a number of bras in the changing room of Tesco, Coleraine.
Defence for the 46-year-old said he was going through a "unique set of circumstances" in his life and his marriage was in difficulties when he turned to recording females.
Defence lawyer Seamus McNeill said that Williamson, who now hopes to move and settle in England, had destroyed his marriage and career because of what he had done.
Williamson, he added, had since expressed genuine remorse, and was not simply the remorse of a man sorry for himself at being caught.
Williamson's crimes only came to light when one woman noticed the mobile phone and notified security.
Upon questioning, Williamson admitted that he downloaded the images and videos onto his computer and used them for sexual gratification. He was found to have nine images involving seven different women in various stages of undress.
Antrim Crown Court heard how only one woman made herself known to police and the other six victims are unaware that their privacy was invaded.
Judge Corinne Philpott QC said that every woman who used the changing rooms in Tesco in that period may be concerned that they were photographed.
Vulnerable
The Judge said that Williamson took advantage of females members of the public in a vulnerable place where they thought they could change in peace, adding that he had held a position of trust in the community and that people would no doubt be surprised to hear that he was offending in this way. Judge Philpott added that as the women concerned don't know and are not upset by it, the number of women filmed perhaps isn't significant.
She said that "perhaps unsurprisingly" Williamson lost his job after 18 years in the prison service, with Counsel suggesting that he had lost his pension also.
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