Clock exposes man’s ‘depraved hobby’

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Guests praised Jonathan Waugh for “going the extra mile to make everything just right” at his holiday cottage.

But what the unsuspecting couples didn’t realise was that the 52-year-old was recording everything they did in the bedroom with a camera disguised as an alarm clock.

The spy camera in the master bedroom was activated with a motion sensor and even worked in the dark, York Crown Court was told.

Waugh, a former broadcasting engineer, would retrieve the memory card when the guests had gone out and watch their most intimate moments on a widescreen TV in a cottage he also owned across the road.

Police were eventually called in when a guest noticed something unusual about the clock and exposed his “depraved hobby”.

Waugh was jailed for 12 months after admitting two charges of voyeurism. He also asked the court to take into consideration six further offences of installing recording devices and six of making recordings at the cottage in Whitby, North Yorkshire.

Prosecutor Richard Gent said Waugh would check that it was couples who would be using the main bedroom of the cottage before setting up the device. He would greet his guests in person, giving the impression of being a charming and attentive host.

A couple and their two children had booked the cottage between November 7 and 11 last year, and everything seemed fine until the husband was taken ill and retired to bed during the day. Mr Gent said the husband noticed something unusual about the clock and examined it to find a memory card installed inside it.

He went straight to the police and Waugh was arrested. Waugh paid £600 for the equipment over the internet and used it to record couples over a 13-month period from October 2010.

He told police he watched the recordings for his own sexual gratification.

The guest who found the device and his wife were said to have felt violated and their relationship suffered as a result of Waugh’s actions.

Rupert Dodswell, defending, said his client had been seeking treatment for his problems. Waugh was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for ten years. - Daily Mail