By John Hawkins

A BUSINESSMAN who used a camera disguised as a ballpoint pen to film a young woman and two teenage girls taking showers was caught when his son found the videos on his computer, a court heard today.

John Hall, 52, of Shelduck Road, Quedgeley, had left the secret camera in a bathroom used by the girls, who were both under 18, and a young woman, Gloucester Crown Court was told.

Prosecutor Edward Hetherington said his offending was discovered when his 19-year-old son used his father's computer and found indecent images.

"He noticed files saved on the computer and a USB stick which appeared to show young girls in an unclothed state," said Mr Hetherington.

The son showed the films to a family member and the police were called.

"The 14 videos were filmed using a covert camera disguised as a ballpoint black pen," Mr Hetherington said.

He told the court that when police examined the computer and USB stick they also found 22 Category C indecent images of children downloaded from the internet.

These showed girls of 13-16 years old in school clothing exposing their breasts or genitalia.

"When Mr Hall was arrested he said he had purchased two cameras which looked like pens after seeing internet porn which had been covertly recorded," the prosecutor said.

"He said that having purchased these cameras he hid one in a bathroom. He said he did it because it was taboo and he wanted to see if he could."

Hall was a man of previous good character, the prosecutor added.

Hall pleaded guilty to charges of voyeurism, making indecent images of a child and downloading indecent images.

Steve Young, defending, said "He is utterly ashamed of his conduct. He bitterly regrets doing what he did. He is genuinely remorseful. He understands exactly the effect his conduct will have had on these girls. He realises he has had a damaging effect on many peoples' lives."

Mr Young said it was in Hall's favour that none of the images had been distributed or seen by anyone else.

"He cannot give any reason for what he has done," he said.

He told the court that a week after his arrest Hall had consulted a therapist and had been having weekly sessions at his own expense ever since to address his behaviour.

The solicitor asked the court to consider a suspended sentence because an immediate jail term would mean Hall's business collapsing.

Such a punishment would be 'too punitive', he argued.

But Judge Euan Ambrose said the offences were too serious for anything other than an immediate jail term in view of their effect on the victims, who had been upset and shaken when they discovered what he had done.

"They have made victim impact statements describing the effect on their sleep, their mood, their ability to communicate with people," said the judge. "

The judge sentenced Hall to 20 months in jail for making indecent images of the girls, four months consecutively for voyeurism and no separate penalty for downloading images - a total of two years imprisonment.

He also imposed a sexual harm prevention order banning Hall from contact with girls under 16 except with court or social services permission.

Hall was ordered to sign the sex offender register for ten years and the pen-cameras were confiscated.