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A PAEDOPHILE army officer with a distinguished military career has been jailed for two-and-a-half years after being caught filming naked children on a beach just three months after being spared a prison sentence for similar offences.
Lieutenant Colonel Mark Smyth, pictured, who was based at Tidworth, was caught filming girls as young as 18 months old, on a beach in Pembrokeshire while on holiday with his wife and two sons in August.
The 43-year-old, who was in charge of a battalion of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, was already subject to a community order for secretly filming children aged between five and 16 years old at swimming pools and supermarkets near his barracks between January 2011 and November 2012.
He put a micro camera in shopping baskets to take shots up childrens skirts and took pictures over the top of changing room cubicles, then uploaded the content onto film-sharing websites.
After admitting six charges of distributing, six charges of taking and four charges of making indecent images he was given a community order when he appeared at Bristol Crown Court in May. He had downloaded more than 5,000 images, with 205 images and four videos in the most serious level four and five categories.
Judge Geoffrey Mercer QC considered his distinguished military career and glowing references when sentencing him. But three months later Smyth, who now lives in Nailsea, Bristol, was spotted filming a six-year-old girl changing on the beach.
Police found two cameras hidden in his car that he had used to film naked children over a four-day period while on holiday with his family.
James Hartson, defending, said Smyth had served his country with distinction and would be dismissed from the army immediately, losing a pension pot valued at 1.1m.
Judge Paul Thomas said Smyth had serious psychological and sexual problems and was a devious and calculating individual who will not be stopped except by the deprivation of your liberty.
You have lost a great deal; your marriage, your high flying career and your social status, he added.
Smyth, who changed his name to Mark Radway during the first police investigation, admitted 16 counts of making indecent images of children when he appeared at Swansea Crown Court on Monday.
He was jailed for 16 months for the Tidworth offences, ten months for the fresh offences and four months for breaching a sexual offences prevention order.
He was ordered to register as a sex offender indefinitely.