A gymnastics coach who setup a camera in toilets used as a changing room, has been given a six-month jail sentence, which has been suspended for two years.
Daniel Chadwick-Jones, 29, of Bretton Lane, Flintshire, was arrested after women at the gymnastics club became suspicious about his behaviour.
Chadwick-Jones had earlier admitted 13 charges of voyeurism at the gym in 2018 and 2019. He appeared at Caernarfon Crown Court on Friday for sentencing.
Anna Price, prosecuting, said a woman noticed a phone in the side pocket of a rucksack left in a toilet in August 2018. The phone appeared to be recording.
Three months later the woman saw Chadwick-Jones acting in a “strange” manner and he rushed in the toilet and grabbed the same rucksack from the toilet floor. He was eventually caught when the same witness saw him again emerge from the toilet with his rucksack.
Police arrested Chadwick-Jones at the gym in June 2019 and found 39 video clips of women who had been recorded changing in the toilet. The women recorded were not aware they were being filmed and two were aged 17.
The court heard Chadwick-Jones was “idolised” by children at the gym and many were present when he was arrested.
Duncan Bould, defending Chadwick-Jones said “he had lost the career he loved” and had sought help from a psychotherapist to understand why he committed “horrid” offences. “His regret and remorse for what he has done is genuine,” added Mr Bould.
Judge Huw Rees ordered Chadwick-Jones to complete a sex offenders’ programme to address his “deviant” behaviour and suspended a six-month jail term for two years.
Chadwick-Jones was also ordered to carry out 240 hours’ unpaid work and will be registered as a sex offender for seven years.
