A FORMER Hampshire councillor was today starting a four-month jail sentence for setting up secret cameras to get sexual kicks from watching girls using the toilet and shower.
Neil Redrup, a councillor in Gosport for ten years, admitted hiding camcorders in his airing cupboard and making videos of female visitors as they used the bathroom.
Southampton Crown Court heard that the 45-year-old had a reputation as running the local "open house" at his Alver Road home in Gosport. He would regularly entertain his teenage stepson's friends with a never-ending supply of free alcohol.
But he set up a secret camera behind a hole above the toilet roll holder and filmed two of the girls, who were aged 14 and 16 at the time, as they used the lavatory.
Carl Anderson, prosecuting, told the court Redrup also filmed a 30-year-old woman, who he had befriended in an internet chatroom, when she was naked in the shower.
Mr Anderson said: "One of the victims said she could believe the video was made. She felt sick and winded when she first heard about it and has lost her confidence in men as a result."
Redrup, who was working as a database manager for the civil service and the Ministry of Defence before he was caught, also encouraged his teenage visitors to watch pornographic images.
Mr Anderson told the court two girls aged 13 and 15, among other teenagers, were invited to watch porn footage from the internet at Redrup's house.
The former Independent councillor was reported to the police after his lodger, who he had invited to borrow his pornographic videos, watched one of the films recorded in Redrup's bathroom.
Redrup pleaded guilty to four counts of voyeurism and one count of gross indecency between January and December 2005.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article