Tenant sublet room to woman then secretly filmed her in the bathroom over three years
23 May 2023, 12:35
A tenant who sublet a room in his council flat to a woman and then secretly filmed her in the bathroom for years has been jailed for voyeurism and child sex offences.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Oliver Charles Fay, of Bethnal Green in East London, was arrested at hit home after the National Crime Agency linked him to an upload of indecent images of children online.
Police did not realise at the time that the 45-year-old was subletting a room to a woman, having advertised it online.
Detectives looked through his phone and found Fay had been secretly filming her while she was in the bathroom and when she slept.
He sometimes hid his phone in a small black vanity drawer at the end of the bath.
After discovering the recordings, safeguarding officers spoke to the woman and gave her support.
Police found 9,831 indecent images of children across his electronic devices found in his bedroom, with 1,200 in the most serious category.
Listen and subscribe to Unprecedented: Inside Downing Street on Global Player
He was jailed for two years and 10 months at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday, May 19, for six counts of voyeurism between September 2019 and August 2022 and three counts of making indecent images of children.
Sentencing him, Judge English said: "Anyone involved in such imagery, whether in the production, distribution or simple download is quite literally plummeting into the depths of depravity...
Read more: Prince Harry loses High Court battle with Home Office over paying for police protection
"Make no mistake, anyone who downloads or views such imagery is complicit in the abuse of those children because you provide and perpetuate a market for such material.
"You should be thoroughly ashamed."
The Met's Police Constable Lindsey England, who investigated the crimes, said: "Oliver Fay used his mobile phone to take images of his lodger over a period of at least three years.
"This was the grossest violation of her privacy and it cannot be overstated how horrific it must have been to learn that her home had not been the safe place she thought it was.
"I would like to commend her bravery and I hope that she can now begin to find a degree of closure and move forward with her life.
"Fay's sexual interests and predatory behaviour is deeply concerning and he paid no regard to the distress and humiliation that this would cause.
"I would like to encourage anyone who has concerns that they have been secretly recorded to please contact the police and they will be supported."
