Pool peeper used camera to spy on women in changing room

Neil Smith appeared on the front page of the Advertiser in 2007 after he was feted at the prestigious Miss Siberia competition during a business trip to Russia.

But the 57-year-old, formerly of Fitzwilliam Road, Eastwood, faces a jail sentence after he admitted in court to filming women in leisure centre changing rooms for sexual gratification.

The case has been sent by Sheffield magistrates to Crown Court for sentencing next month.

Smith appeared on Monday facing a charge of voyeurism after he was caught filming a mother under the door of a changing cubicle as she changed with her five-year-old son at Sheffield’s Hillsborough Leisure Centre on August 11.

Mr Stephen Acaster, prosecuting, said that the horrified woman confronted Smith after seeing a video camera being “twisted and turned for the best view” from beneath the cubicle.

He said that the woman and her son were drying themselves when she spotted the camera, adding: “The hands were turning and twisting the screen as if to get a better view.

“She left the cubicle and banged on the door of the cubicle where she believed the culprit was.”

Smith opened the door and immediately stated: “I haven’t got a camera...I wasn’t doing anything” before slamming the door shut.

Before the door was closed, the female victim spotted a multi-coloured plastic bag in Smith’s cubicle.

When a witness to the incident saw the bag being passed out of the changing enclosure, he made a grab for it and, as he did, a leaflet with details of other leisure centres fell out.

Police were called and uncovered a peeping Tom’s tool kit when they searched the plastic bag.

Mr Acaster said: “They recovered a jacket, down the sleeve of which was a 30-centimetre plastic ruler that was attached with elastic bands to a video recorder.

“A further plastic bag was found along with batteries, a partly used bottle of lubricant and a vibrating male masturbating device.

“It also contained a used swimming costume, a six-by-two inch mirror and a camera case.”

A search of Smith’s home uncovered data storage devices containing video footage of numerous other female victims at other leisure centres and on beaches.

Mr Acaster said that there were no indecent images of children, but a large number of pictures and video files of women, some of which may have been taken outside the UK.

He added: “Investigating officers were concerned about the sophisticated nature of the defendants activities and the planning involved in his offence.”

Smith admitted a charge of voyeurism and on Monday his case was committed to Sheffield Crown Court for sentencing on January 10.

Mr Acaster revealed that Smith had been arrested on a previous occasion, in August 2004, when he was caught in cubicles at Doncaster Leisure Centre.

He said: “He was looking through a hole in the cubicle, watching a woman get changed, while masturbating himself.

“He was stopped by a leisure centre manager and handed to police.”

Smith did not have legal representation in court on Monday and spoke only to confirm his name and current address of Victoria Road, Old Town, Barnsley.

His recent court appearances are a far cry from the fame he achieved during a trip to Russia in 2007.

A mix-up saw him feted as an international recording star, mobbed by autograph hunters, recruited as a judge in a major beauty contest, interviewed on national television and invited to manage one of the nation’s top pop acts.

After telling the owner of his hotel that he had played in bands throughout South Yorkshire’s clubland, he was asked to be a judge at a local beauty contest.

But Smith, wrongly billed as a major recording artist from UK who had been flown in especially for the event, found himself on-stage at a star-studded Miss Siberia beauty pageant.

At the time he told the Advertiser: “I told my mates but nobody believed me until I showed them pictures and video clips.

“All sorts of of daft things seem to happen to me abroad but this trip was extreme even by my standards.”