Description
Rahul Odedra, 46, found a sick sexual thrill in watching women 'in the act of wiping' and was caught when he tried to film up the skirt of a victim
A teacher who hid cameras in the female toilets of three schools where he worked has been jailed for more than four years.
Rahul Odedra, 46, Quedgeley, Gloucester, would position the cameras in toilet roll holders and focus them on the genital areas of female school staff using the loo.
He pleaded guilty at Gloucester Crown Court to one offence of attempting to possession an indecent image, two offences of possession of indecent images and twenty offences of voyeurism.
The offences took place between 2009 to 2017.
Prosecutor Anjali Gohil told Judge Ian Lawrie QC the bulk of the images were of adult women but there were also images of children.
Odedra committed the offences in various locations including in three schools in Gloucestershire, she said, and hid cameras in staff toilets.
"He would set it up in the lunch period and then take it down later," she said.
Odedra seemed to focus on filming people wiping their genitalia, she added.
"No one goes to a toilet, locks the door and expects to be filmed for third parties to see," the prosecutor continued.
"Great care was taken by him positioning the cameras. He would hide the camera in toilet roll holders."
When he was arrested and his home was searched police found 200 images on his computer equipment, Ms Gohil told the judge.
The police analysed the images and found that he had cropped and clipped the films he captured in the toilet so that he could watch back to back images of females "in the act of wiping."
Ms Gohil told the judge that Odedra was detected when he attempted to film up the skirt of one of his victims and she spotted him.
The judge noted that this was "an escalation" from his remote filming in the toilet, as he was present and using the camera of his phone, which he had attached to a ruler with blue tack.
"It's a step up from covert," the judge said. "It's becoming brazen."
Ms Gohil said "the collateral damage to entirely innocent parties has been significant. People feel violated and betrayed"
The judge agreed saying "it's a gross breach of trust."
Ms Gohil added "He abused trust to gain sexual gratification."
She told the judge that Odedra had no previous convictions. Whilst he remained silent in his first police interview, he made full admissions in the second but "was reluctant to admit sexual interest."
The judge noted that by the time of Odedra's interview with a probation officer he had started to "come to terms with his sexual interest."
Odedra's lawyer, Joseph Keating, said his client knew "that that these are very serious offences that cross the custody threshold."
"At the time of doing this, he had little comprehension of the impact on the victims as they were not physically harmed, but he now fully understands the lasting impact that will be hard to bear," Mr Keating said.
"He would like to apologise. He is deeply sorry for what he did.
"This was born out of an interest in voyeurism. He reiterates that his primary interest was in adults.
"He says there was never a chance this would escalate beyond voyeurism."
The judge indicated that he was prepared to accept that, as "over the length of time he did this, there was no physical contact."
Mr Keating told the judge that Odedra "had lost everything good in his life" as his career was at an end and it had "torn his family apart."
"His remorse is genuine, and he is struggling in prison. He is a broken man, terrified of the people around him and the circumstances of his detention" Mr Keating concluded.
The judge said: "If you hold a secret about your sexual view of the world it can be toxic, and he is paying the price."
Sentencing Odedra the judge told him "You are facing the consequences of what is long held voyeuristic compulsion to look at females.
"A toxic secret with the consequence you are going to prison.
"These offences cover a deliberate and persistent course of conduct. Explicit moving images of them using the toilet.
"Most of the victims were young, some are children.
"You took great care fixing camera angles in all the venues you chose.
"This was a gross breach of trust. Your offending for the later offences show you going beyond furtive recording.
"People's dignity should be respected. This was a carefully calculated intrusion into people's privacy.
"This is some of the worst examples of this type of offending. You caused immeasurable emotional harm to your victims.
"There is mitigation, not least your guilty plea, and you are not wholly bad, and not wholly good.
"You were a good teacher, and it must have come as a massive collective shock to your family and friends.
"Custody will have a significant impact on you. I must impose a prison term of note.
"This is not a harmless activity if done on the quiet as some might think.
"I know you appreciate the harm and hurt you have caused. That lies at your door and your door alone."
Alongside the four year three month jail term, Odedra was given a sexual harm prevention order and has to sign the sex offender register, both for the rest of his life.