Robert Leask 63

Description

A PEEPING tom who admitted planting a secret camera at his work to film female colleagues on the toilet is to be supervised by the court for the next 12 months.

Fish factory worker Robert Leask will also have to carry out 66 hours of community service and will be placed on the sex offenders register for one year.

The 50 year old, from Huxter, on the isle of Whalsay, must also pay a 240 fine after he failed to present himself at Lerwick police station twice in July to have his name placed on the register.

Last month Leask pled guilty to hiding a USB camera in the communal toilet at Blueshell Mussels packing factory at Sparl, near Brae, on 22 February this year.

A female worker found the camera wedged between pipes next to the sink in the domestic-style lavatory. She handed the device in to her manager, who saw Leask adjusting its position when she viewed its contents on her computer.

The police were called and Leask denied all knowledge of the device until he was told that he had been caught on camera himself.

Sheriff Graeme Napier had deferred sentence until Wednesday and placed Leask on the sex offenders register, but he got himself into more trouble when he failed to present himself at Lerwick police station.

On Wednesday he pled guilty to both offences, but his motives were no clearer after Leask failed to give social workers or his solicitor Tommy Allan any explanation for his behaviour.

Sheriff Napier described him as a hard working person whose actions had been a gross intrusion of privacy.

He added: Its difficult, as a male, to appreciate what the impact would be on the female victims who were intended to be victims of this offending.

However the sheriff said it would be inappropriate to send him to jail as it was his first offence and social workers suggested he could be helped to reduce the risk of reoffending.

Leask was placed on a 12 month supervision order with 66 hours voluntary work to be carried out over the next three months, and must pay a 240 fine for failing to register as a sex offender last month.

The sheriff said he did not want to place him under a curfew as this might encourage him to indulge in pornography.