Man put spy camera in ladies' toilet at Telford firm
A former senior member of staff at a Telford company installed a secret camera in the ladies' toilet at work to spy on female colleagues, a court heard.
Women at garden furniture firm Hartman Outdoor Products were horrified and said they felt violated when they learnt what John Henry Hughes had done, Telford magistrates were told yesterday.
Hughes, 59, of The Wheatlands, Perton, near Wolverhampton, admitted voyeurism.
Mrs Katie Price, prosecuting, told the court that last November last year Hughes was employed as a master planner at Hartman's on Stafford Park and had been with the firm for 25 years.
She said at that time a woman staff member discovered what looked like a black coat hook stuck on the back of the ladies' cubicle, at groin height, and when she looked at the back of it she saw a slot for a memory card, with a memory card in it, and also a small camera hole.
Mrs Price said the woman put it in her bag. She said Hughes asked the woman to go into his office the next day and said to her that he had done something stupid and she knew what. The court heard the woman took the matter to the firm's finance director and Hughes was confronted about it.
The firm contacted its solicitors and Hughes was sacked for gross misconduct.
The hearing was adjourned to March 19 to allow the preparation of a pre-sentence report and Hughes was bailed.
