A registered sex offender has been jailed for 26 months after she was caught with 790 pictures and 15 videos of men in toilet cubicles. Chleo Sunter, 37, committed the crimes in an Aldi and Captain Cook Square shopping centre in Middlesbrough, and at Darlington Train Station.
She pleaded guilty to two counts of voyeurism at Teesside Crown Court on Wednesday and six breaches of a sexual harm and prevention order. Sunter took the photos and videos between January and November 2023 – the latest in many crimes she has committed over the past 13 years. In 2012, she was convicted of sexual assault, and in 2014, was convicted of possession of extreme pornographic images.
Four years later, Sunter appeared in court after breaching her sexual harm prevention order by using an alias on a dating site.
This time, she was caught when her sex offender manager found the photos and videos on her phone during a visit to her home in Thornaby to make sure she was complying with the order.
Paul Newcombe, prosecuting, told the court: “Some of the males were stood at the urinals. Some were recorded under the cubicles.”
Police discovered that Sunter subsequently deleted 695 chats, 712 photos, and four videos from gay dating app Grindr.
She also had her phone reset to factory settings and browsed on incognito mode, so her search history could not be tracked.
Sunter’s barrister asked Judge Geoffrey Marson to consider a court order instead of prison due to fears she would be made homeless when she got out.
Judge Marson, however, said Sunter’s mental health problems and history of alcohol abuse “have little or no affect on the offences”, though he acknowledged she is “emotionally vulnerable and custody will be difficult”.
