Voyeur hid cameras under desk of woman in his office in Stirling

A man who installed cameras under the desk of a woman at his office has been given a community sentence for voyeurism.

Ian Anderson was caught when one of the devices fell to the floor and the 50-year-old woman found sticky tape and camera instructions in his desk.

Anderson, 61, who had worked with the woman for 12 years at the Laing Traditional Masonry Group, admitted the offence at Stirling Sheriff Court.

He quit his £65,000 job with the firm after the incident. He was given 167 hours of unpaid work, and banned from contacting his victim for two years.

Sheriff Claire McLachlan described the offence as “distasteful and disturbing”.

The court heard how Anderson, who was married, and the woman had desks that backed onto each other separated by a partition.

Anderson, of Ballumbie in Dundee, was working from home on the day the woman discovered the cameras stuck to the underside of the desk using sticky tape.

Both of the cameras were said to be facing towards where she sat.

Prosecutor Ann Orr said the woman had followed the wires from the cameras back through the desk partition to Anderson’s desk.

The woman later discovered a pack of the “distinctive” sticky tape and instructions for the cameras in Anderson’s desk drawer.

Anderson was apprehended at work after police were called and his devices were seized.

Mrs Orr said no image files were found, but Anderson’s phone had been reset the day after the woman found the cameras and confronted him.

Anderson’s lawyer, Mike Short, said he had quit his job with the firm after the discovery.

Mr Short said Anderson had since sought help for his issues, adding his life had been “turned upside down”.

Sheriff McLachlan said the unpaid work order had been a “direct alternative” to a custodial sentence.

She also placed Anderson on the sex offenders’ register for two years.