An Indian origin science teacher in the United Kingdom who filmed girl students inside school restrooms has been sentenced to four years in prison. The 46-year-old teacher reportedly positioned his cameras inside toilet roll holders in three schools where he worked in Southwest England.
The accused, Rahul Odedra, was sentenced at the Gloucester Crown Court by Judge Ian Lawriea as he was "persistently and deliberately carrying out his perverse compulsion".
"He would set it up in the lunch period and then take it down later. No one goes to a toilet, locks the door and expects to be filmed for third parties to see," prosecutor Anjali Gohil told the court.
The judge said: "You are facing the consequences of what is long-held voyeuristic compulsion to look at females. A toxic secret with the consequence you are going to prison," PTI reported.
This is not the first time the science teacher has been accused of voyeurism. Odedra had earlier pleaded guilty to possessing an indecent picture of a student and also for nearly 20 counts of voyeurism offences from 2009 to 2017, PTI reports said.
The judge said: "People's dignity should be respected. This was a carefully calculated intrusion into people's privacy. This is some of the worst examples of this type of offending. You caused immeasurable emotional harm to your victims."
Odedra, who was said to be good at teaching, was caught when he was trying to take an image up a student's skirt. As per reports, police had found nearly 200 videos and images of students filmed inside the toilets.
Odedra has also been registered as a sexual offender for the rest of his life for his multiple crimes.
His lawyer Joseph Keating said that his client was extremely apologetic of his actions and regrets his decision. He added that his client has lost "everything good in his life" due to his mistake which started as a result of his interest in voyeurism.
