A plumber who installed secret cameras in the homes of customers so he could watch them use the bathroom has been jailed.
James Hulme, 57, was caught after a woman found one of the spy cameras in her downstairs toilet.
She had hired him to do some work there in Clifton in 2018, but while he was there noticed a camera attached to a sink.
After finding it, she immediately confronted him. He admitted being responsible and fled the property along with the recording device when the woman called the police.
Officers immediately set out looking for Hulme and arrested him after tracking him down a short time later.
They then found that he had filmed several other customers by hiding recording devices in their bathrooms.
When they searched his address, they found 302 indecent images of children on his home computers, as well as images involving animals.
During his police interview, he admitted digitally recording the customer and ‘five or six others’ to meet his sexual needs, but denied accessing child abuse material.
PC Jonathan Cooper, who investigated Hulme’s criminality, said: ‘This was a gross breach of trust and invasion of privacy in a pre-meditated manner for his own sexual gratification.
‘Hulme will have to live with this shame for the rest of his life. These offences were gross and his victims will no doubt live with this forever.
‘I hope this outcome serves not only as a comfort to Hulme’s victims and their families, but also as a warning to others who might be tempted to engage in voyeurism.
‘His convictions for making indecent images of a child and possessing extreme pornographic images should also serve as a stark a warning to others that such criminality does have consequences.
‘Behind every one of these sickening videos and images is a vulnerable child being sexually abused by an adult in various parts of the world.
‘The physical and emotional impact of that abuse can and does have a devastating impact on those children as they grow older and we are determined to protect other children from a similar fate.’
Hulme, of Sherwood, pleaded guilty to voyeurism, making indecent images of a child and possessing extreme pornographic images.
He was jailed for 12 months after appearing at Nottingham Crown Court on Wednesday, October 27.
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