Former Belfast hotel manager jailed over bathroom spycam

A former Belfast hotel manager has been jailed for six months for spying on his friends with a secret camera hidden inside a clock in his bathroom.

Patrice Renault's victims included a five-year-old boy who he recorded in the shower at his Lisburn Road home.

Renault previously pleaded guilty to three counts of voyeurism and one of installing equipment for voyeurism.

He also admitted 10 charges of making indecent images of children and three of having extreme pornographic images.

A prosecutor told the court that officers from the National Crime Agency and the PSNI searched the defendant's home in February 2016 over suspicions he had indecent images of children.

Renault, 44, who is originally from France, handed over his laptop, a computer and passwords for both devices.

The court heard that although Renault admitted possessing indecent images of children, he did not tell police about the voyeurism videos.

The prosecutor said the search of the defendant's computer equipment revealed almost 1,000 indecent images and extreme pornographic videos.

The majority of the material related to boys aged 12-15, but it also included a boy aged five being sexually abused.

Officers also discovered 1,135 voyeurism videos which Renault had recorded by putting a spycam inside a clock which he placed beside the toilet in his bathroom.

Renault admitted to police that the 15 people he secretly recorded were friends mostly from France who had travelled to Belfast to stay with him.

One video related to a five-year-old boy "who was being showered by his father'' in Renault's bathroom.

The prosecutor told the judge: "He told police that when he knew his friends were coming to stay with him he would start recording. None of them were aware that they were being covertly recorded.

"He subsequently informed all of the people recorded about his actions.''

At the time of his arrest, Renault was the manager of a hotel in Belfast city centre, but was sacked when his offending came to light.

A defence barrister said Renault told a probation officer that "he didn't think he was doing anything wrong'' in relation to the voyeurism.

The judge interjected, saying: "How any right-thinking person can hold such a view is baffling. It is a very distorted form of thinking.''

The defence barrister added: "He has a very distorted thinking. He has now suffered a meteoric fall from grace. He is a now a broken and isolated man."

The judge said Renault's offending showed he had a "warped mentality of a deviant sexual nature''.

Sentencing him to two years, the judge said the defendant would spend six months in custody, followed by 18 months on supervised licence.

Renault was also made the subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order for 10 years.

Following the sentencing, Colin Radcliffe of the National Crime Agency said: "Renault exploited guests who stayed at his house for his own sexual gratification.

"That was on top of the harm he did by downloading images of children. Behind every one of those was an instance of horrific abuse and Renault re-victimised children by viewing them."