Film voyeur faces prison sentence

3:50pm Tuesday 26th August 2008

A PEEPING Tom secretly filmed a child at school and a woman undressing to satisfy his sexual urges during nearly a year of perverted crimes, a court heard.

Anthony Willett managed to hide a camera under a child’s desk in a classroom, York magistrates were told earlier this summer.

Prosecutor Martin Hawes said he wanted to make films that he could view later to get sexual pleasure from.

He also kept a stock of child porn videos and pictures on his home computer including hardcore sex images.

Now after appearing at York Crown Court, a judge has warned him he is likely to go to jail when he is sentenced later this year.

Judge Patrick Robertshaw said no judge could sentence him without reading psychiatric and psychological reports on him and adjourned sentence until November.

Releasing him on bail he warned: “As far as I can see, it would require wholly exceptional circumstances for this case to be dealt with other than by way of immediate custody and I cannot imagine that there are any such exceptional circumstances in this case. You would do well to prepare yourself for a custodial sentence.”

Willett’s solicitor Graham Parkin said: “He is putting his house in order.”

His client had already given in his notice at work and his employers knew his position.

Willett, 44, of Parkland Drive, Tadcaster, pleaded guilty to three charges of voyeurism, two of taking indecent videos of other people secretly so he could watch them afterwards for sexual gratification, one of outraging public decency by covert filming of a woman, two of distributing indecent images of children, 16 of making indecent computer images of children and one of possessing indecent images of children. All the crimes were committed between November 2006 and October 2007.

He was immediately put on the sexual offenders’ register. The exact length of time he must continue to register will be decided when he is sentenced. His bail conditions ban him from having any unsupervised contact with anyone under 16, possessing any photographic equipment or using the internet.