Spy camera lecturer must register as sex offender

A university lecturer who rigged up a covert camera to spy on a woman using a shower was today ordered to register as a sex offender.

Birmingham Crown Court heard that Paul Hwang, an expert in business studies, hid the camera inside an air freshener to watch the woman last autumn.

The 32-year-old academic, then living in Birmingham but now of Bayswater, London, pleaded guilty in February to a single count of voyeurism.

Hwang, whose wife lives and studies in Australia, has since been dismissed from his post at University College Birmingham.

Ordering the lecturer to register as a sex offender for five years, Judge Roderick Henderson said the offence had abused the victim's privacy and involved a fair degree of sophistication.

The judge told Hwang: "It's not surprising to hear that the victim of this offence was shocked and disgusted and very frightened that images might be saved, passed on to other people or even put up on the internet."

Prosecutor Richard Franck said there was no evidence that Hwang had recorded any images from the camera, which was discovered by the victim after she saw it swinging from side to side.

Mr Franck said the device was rigged up in a bathroom at a property in Birmingham which was rented out by the defendant.

Defence lawyer James Turner acknowledged that Hwang, who was sentenced to a three-year community order, would find it difficult to revive his career following his suspension and dismissal.

Mr Turner told the court: "The defendant, I submit, has shown remorse. He does feel very much ashamed.

"He feels he has effectively ruined his career. Academic circles are tight circles and reputation is everything."