A peeping Tom from Brighton has been spared a stretch in prison after being convicted of spying on a teenage girl.
Terry Newton, 45, was living in Brighton when he rigged up a camera to spy on a 16-year-old girl.
Newton, currently living with his mother in Rectory Farm Road, Sompting, denied using a hidden camera “for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification” by filming the girl.
He was convicted of voyeurism by a jury at Hove Crown Court earlier this month.
Today (Tuesday 28 July) he was given a six-month suspended prison sentence at the same court by Mr Recorder Tom Nicholson-Pratt.
He also ordered Newton to do 120 hours of community service and made an 18-month restraining order and supervision order.
The secret filming, which took place over several months, came to light in March last year.
When Newton was interviewed by Sussex Police, he lied and tried to conceal the transmitter in the front garden just before his arrest. The transmitter was later found by police in the hedge.
Newton said that he wanted to record his wife as she was planning to divorce him.
But the camera was found by the victim and police officers found a hole in the curtain of her bedroom overlooking her bed.
A family friend of the victim said: “It is feared by the victim and her mother that Newton has committed similar or other sexual offences before and continues to maintain relationships with other women with teenage girls.”
