November 2013

Jail for video spy sex pervert who was already convicted paedophile

A pervert used a hidden camera to spy on women in Doncaster town centre, a court heard – and many of his victims may never have known.

Convicted paedophile Richard Vaughan had just been released from jail for a string of sex offences, including filming a teenage girl and distributing child abuse images, when he embarked on his voyeurism spree in busy shopping areas.

Christine Empson, the manager of Victim Support South Yorkshire, branded Vaughan ‘heinous’ after the case, after it was revealed it may never be known how many women he secretly filmed with a pen camera he hid in a bag.

Police visited the 44-year-old’s home in Broxholme Lane, Wheatley, on March 4 this year as part of a regular series of check-ups following his release from prison.

Officers found recording equipment and a computer – which he was banned from possessing under the terms of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order he was subject to. He also had an email account and access to the internet, which he was banned from.

Brian Outhwaite, prosecuting, told Sheffield Crown Court police discovered a camera ‘secreted in a pillow’, plus a laptop computer and a DVD which contained three images of extreme adult porn.

He added that, during police interviews, Vaughan ‘admitted taking the camera into Doncaster town centre and filming women’.

In April 2009 Vaughan admitted 35 offences – including making and distributing images of child abuse images and secretly filming an under 16 in a bathroom – and was jailed for 27 months.

Vaughan admitted four breaches of the SOPO and a count of possessing extreme pornography in connection with his latest crimes.

Cedric Hennis, defending, said his client bought the computer to look for jobs and no explicit content was on its database.

Jailing him for three years Judge Simon Lawler QC said: “The police found the spy pen you admitted using to photograph women on a large number of occasions.”