A Border Force officer who secretly filmed women in toilets at ferry ports with the help of his girlfriend has been jailed for more than two years.
Neil Adams and Stephanie Whitehead, both 40, made clandestine recordings of women by planting mobile phones in changing rooms and toilets.
They even filmed their oblivious victims as they used the toilets at the Port of Calais and Dunkirk Ferry Port in France.
Their offending was only uncovered when a woman spotted a hidden phone after using a toilet with her young child.
Police identified 12 victims – some of whom revealed they’d stopped eating and drinking to avoid having to use the toilet due to the trauma of being filmed.
Adams has now been jailed for 28 months after admitting voyeurism and pleading guilty to an unrelated sexual assault.
Whitehead also admitted voyeurism but narrowly avoided jail after the court heard she was ‘drawn in’ to her partner’s perversion.
Canterbury Crown Court heard the couple, both originally from Rye in East Sussex, had recorded countless videos between 2014 and 2020.
In some clips the couple, who have a young son together, were even said to have been caught red-handed in the mirrors of changing rooms or when placing or collecting devices to record their victims.
Prosecutor Kieran Brand said the couple were eventually reported after a woman spotted a phone hidden inside a towel whilst using a toilet with her young child.
“The victim reports that as she bent down to pull up the child’s underwear she saw the sunlight on a camera lens,” he explained.
“She had located a mobile phone wrapped in a microfibre towel, facing the lavatory.
“She saw that the phone screen was displaying what the camera was viewing and the red light showed it was recording.”
Mr Brand told the court that Whitehead was complicit in the making of the covert tapes, and had also captured women in various states of undress in the changing rooms of clothing stores and a swimming pool.
“One victim is filmed topless in a changing cubicle,” he added.
After police were alerted they raided the couple’s home in Ashford, Kent, and analysis of their phones and computers revealed the extent of their disturbing crimes.
One victim told the court: “I feel repulsed every time someone wants to take a video of me – it makes me feel sick to my stomach.”
Adams admitted 11 counts of voyeurism, whilst Whitehead admitted to seven.
Adams also admitted to making an indecent image of a child and to a sexual assault charge relating to an incident in 2014, in which he crept into a woman’s bedroom and stroked her leg without her consent.
Nicholas Maggs, mitigating, said Whitehead had pleaded guilty to all matters at an early stage and had no previous convictions.
“She is very remorseful for what happened,” he said.
Recorder James Lofthouse told the pair: “These offences will have left a lasting impact on all your victims.
“This was all for the perverse sexual gratification of both of you.”
Adams was jailed for 28 months, whilst Whitehead was handed a 12-month prison term suspended for two years and ordered to complete 180 hours of unpaid work.
Both criminals are subject to a sexual offence notification requirement for 10 years.
Adams was suspended from his role as a Border Force officer in September 2019 when bosses were made aware of the police investigation and was subsequently dismissed from his role in July 2021.
A Home Office spokesperson said following the sentence: “We expect the highest standards from our Border Force officers and that they treat everyone with dignity and respect.
“Where unacceptable behaviour is found, we are resolute that it must be rooted out and, where appropriate, officers should face disciplinary proceedings and the full force of the law.”
