A VOYEUR who filmed women using the toilet with a 'spy pen' bought on eBay has been spared jail.

Tomasz Bubis put the pen behind a sanitary bin in a toilet cubicle to record two women at an address in Verwood.

The 32-year-old had denied a charge of observing a person doing a private act.

However, he was convicted following a trial at Bournemouth Magistrates' Court in January.

On Wednesday, February 8, he was sentenced to 26 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months, by magistrates sitting at the court in Poole.

During the trial, prosecutors said the defendant, of Normanhurst Avenue, had filmed the women without their knowledge or consent in April 2016.

When interviewed by police, Bubis admitted putting the camera in the cubicle because he was "curious" about how women used the toilet.

However, he denied filming the victims for sexual gratification.

The court heard Bubis had shown “a pattern” of voyeurism after photographing women on the beach while on holiday with his wife in Tenerife. Bubis had claimed he and his wife were “having a laugh” while doing it and images taken of women were “something for [his wife] to achieve”.

During his trial, Bubis told the court that in October 2014 his mother had become very ill and passed away two months later. He was struggling to deal with her death and had been experiencing flashbacks from his childhood when he said he was sexually abused. He claimed his perpetrator had raped him and would take him to the toilet where he would watch him use the facilities.

“I couldn’t understand it fully,” Bubis told the court with the help of a Polish interpreter, as he fought back tears.

“It wasn’t my goal to have any sexual gratification from it. I just wanted to understand my perpetrator, what he saw, what he felt - this is what I wanted to understand.

“I’m glad that the whole thing came to light because it made me feel better mentally that I could speak about my problems because I’m not sure what would have happened in two or three months.”

Bubis was ordered to pay costs of £300 to the Crown Prosecution Service and an £80 victim surcharge.

The recording device was forfeited and will be destroyed, and Bubis must register with the police in accordance with the Sexual Offences Act for seven years.

No compensation was ordered because the victims are "already fearful of contact," it was heard