A MAN who secretly filmed a woman in the shower through her bathroom window has been jailed for more than ten months.
The Magistrate’s Court heard that Neil Christian Marett (47) had used his mobile phone to record images of the woman showering without her knowledge or consent.
Appearing in court via video link from La Moye Prison, he admitted the offence of voyeurism. He also pleaded guilty to stealing around £225 of groceries from a supermarket.
Crown Advocate Lauren Taylor, prosecuting, said the voyeurism offence had taken place on 12 February. Marett stood outside the house filming the woman through the bathroom window.
‘When she noticed it, she shouted and the phone disappeared,’ Advocate Taylor said.
‘Her boyfriend went outside and the defendant was located. He took out his phone and started deleting images.’
When Marett was arrested, 21 images of the woman in the shower were found on his phone. His DNA was also found on the outside of the bathroom window.
On 4 March, Marett stole food and alcohol worth £55 from the Marks & Spencer supermarket in St Clement.
Two weeks later he returned to the shop and stole another £170 worth of goods.
Marett was already on the Sex Offenders’ Register and under its requirements he has to inform the States police if he changes address. But the court heard that he had moved last year without informing them.
Advocate Taylor added that Marett had a string of previous convictions, including filming teenage girls in the shower and girls on the beach. He was considered at high risk of re-offending.
Advocate David Steenson, defending, said Marett had not engaged with him.
He told the court: ‘Mr Marett is resigned to a prison sentence. He suggests that I offer no mitigation.’
He said Marett had no money and so could not pay the supermarket back for the items he had stolen.
Relief Magistrate Sarah Fitz told Marett: ‘This is particularly serious because you filmed a woman in her own home. You accept no responsibility for your actions.’
She sentenced him to nine months in prison for voyeurism, one month for breaching the notification requirements of the Sex Offenders’ Register and one week each for the two thefts, with the sentences to run consecutively. She also imposed a restraining order barring him from approaching or following the victim or loitering within 50 metres of her home or workplace for five years.
