Man spied on girl in Asda toilet

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/lancashire/7708291.stm

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A man who spied on a nine-year-old girl in a supermarket toilet has been given a suspended prison sentence.

John Harwood, 58, of Kilgrimol Gardens, St Annes, used a mirror to spy on the girl in the women's toilets at an Asda store in Blackpool last July.

Harwood claimed he was there to fix a toilet, but later said he had Irritable Bowel Syndrome and had to use the toilets as the men's were in use.

He was found guilty of voyeurism and was sentenced at Preston Crown Court.

Victim 'distressed'

Harwood received a 28-day prison sentence, suspended for two years.

He was ordered to complete 75 hours of unpaid work within two months and to pay £950 costs.

The court heard how the victim was out shopping with her mother and was accompanied to the toilet by her younger sister.

Sentencing Harwood, Judge Norman Wright told him: "You used a mirror in the ladies toilets to spy on a little nine-year-old girl.

"She was there with her younger sister. You were in those toilets for a very lengthy period of time and the result of you spying on the girl was very profound from the evidence that came out.

"She was distressed and in hysterics."