In 2005 four council workers were accused of using CCTV cameras to spy on a woman in her house, for voyeuristic purposes. In 2006, two of them were found guilty of voyeuris and sentenced to two months in prison.
Four council workers from Merseyside who allegedly used CCTV cameras as a “peeping tom” tool have been charged with voyeurism.
It is claimed the men, who worked for Sefton Council, pointed a street safety camera into a woman’s flat.
All four were also charged on Thursday with misconduct in a public office.
They are: Kevin Judge, 42, of Waterloo, Vincent David Broderick, 52, of Sefton, David Welsh, 40, of Anfield, and Mark Summerton, 37, of Kirkdale. At the time of the alleged incident, in November last year, the men were employed in the council’s CCTV operation centre in Bootle.
Mr Summerton, of Humber Close, and Mr Broderick, of Waterside, also face a further charge of attempted voyeurism on a separate occasion.
A spokeswoman for Merseyside Police said the men would appear before South Sefton Magistrates on 27 May.
Sefton Council has 70 cameras in Bootle, Waterloo, Crosby, Litherland, Netherton, Aintree and Southport. The exact location of the cameras in question has not been disclosed.
In January 2006 Mark Sefton, pictured above was sentenced to two months in prison, for Voyeurism and then required to sign the sex offenders act.
At the trial the Judge said that “You only have to read the impact statements of the lady to realise the harrowing effect that this had on her. Her life has almost been ruined, her self-confidence entirely destroyed by the thought that prying male eyes have entered her flat”
This was originally reported by the BBC in 2005.