A voyeur from Dundee who installed cameras under a desk at his Stirling office was caught when one fell from its hiding place.
A horrified woman traced power cables back to Ian Anderson’s desk, then found the instruction manual for the cameras in his desk drawer.
Police checked his phone for images and none were found but prosecutors noted the phone had been reset the day after the confrontation.
Stirling Sheriff Court heard Anderson had worked for the Laing Traditional Masonry Group for 12 years.
The 61-year-old quit his £65,000 a year job after being confronted.
At his sentencing hearing a sheriff told him the offence was “distasteful and disturbing” and placed him on the sex offenders register.
Shocking discovery
Fiscal depute Ann Orr told the court the discovery was made on a day Anderson was working from home, when the woman heard something drop to the floor.
“Looking there she observed two cameras – one black, one white – which had been stuck to the underside of her desk in the corners.
“She followed the wire back through the desk partition to the accused’s desk.
“She pulled them down and saw they were attached using a distinctive sticky tape.
“She did not recognise it as what they used in the office.
“She looked in the accused’s desk and found the sticky tape.
“She saw there was an instruction manual for the cameras.”
‘Terrible mistake’
The woman took photos of the cameras and sent them to the accused telling him “I think they’re cameras”.
Anderson did not initially admit installing them.
Police raided his home and seized USB sticks and examined his mobile phone and laptop.
Ms Orr said the phone had been factory reset on September 26.
Solicitor Mike Short, defending, said Anderson had “made a terrible mistake” and quit his job.
He said Anderson had been having marital problems during the period he hid the cameras.
“His life has been turned upside down through his own fault. From the outset he has accepted responsibility for it.”
Anderson, of Peebles Drive, Dundee, admitted installing camera equipment with the intention of him or others viewing images at the office on the Springkerse Industrial Estate on September 25 last year.
Sheriff Clair McLachlan placed him on a two-year supervision order and he must carry out 167 hours of unpaid work.
He was also banned from contacting the woman for two years.
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