A peeping Tom offshore worker who used his phone to secretly film a female colleague while she showered has been placed on the sex offenders register.
Andrew Thomas sneaked into his victim’s cabin and hid his mobile in her bathroom. It was strategically placed and disguised behind a white sheet of paper – and set to take footage of her as she washed herself.
He also accessed her phone and sent himself a selection of her own private pictures.
Yesterday, the 38-year-old appeared in court. He had previously admitted the offences after appearing from custody at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
His agent, solicitor Stewart Murray, told the court yesterday that in the period since his first appearance three weeks ago, the convictions had caused his client embarrassment.
The court previously heard Thomas had become “infatuated” with his co-worker when he was employed as a steward on a North Sea platform last year.
Mr Murray said his client knew the woman did not feel the same way about him, so decided to set up his phone to record her in her bathroom.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, only discovered she was being filmed when she spotted his phone hidden underneath her sink.
When she went to investigate the device she found it had been recording her as she was about to enter the shower.
The court heard that after the incident was reported, other offshore workers came forward to say they had spotted Thomas, of Station Road, Pitlochry, going into her room wearing gloves.
When the phone was analysed, Thomas appeared in the film footage, setting up the handset.
Sheriff Graeme Napier told Thomas yesterday: “This was an appalling invasion of someone’s privacy. Whatever your motives were does not really matter. That person is entitled to a private life.”
Thomas, who had been signed off work since the incident, was placed under supervision for a year and ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.
He will remain on the sex offenders register for a year. He refused to comment as he left court.
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