A HOTEL owner who set up a live link video camera in one of the bedrooms to watch an innocent couple having sex has today been found guilty of voyeurism.
Clarence Birkbeck, 67, manager of the Kastle Court Hotel in Redcar’s Newcomen Terrace could be jailed after magistrates found him guilty of voyeurism.
Maureen Rider, chairwoman of the bench, said that Mr Birkbeck had installed the equipment so that he could observe the couple without their consent for his own “sexual gratification.”
She told him after finding him guilty that the bench were considering a custodial sentence.
Police officers were alerted by the angry and distressed couple on November 30 last year after they found the secret video camera in their four poster bedroom, hidden between a wardrobe and a wall.
Langbaurgh East Magistrates’ Court heard that when police searched Birkbeck’s private quarters they found 50 to 60 hardcore pornographic DVDs and videos plus a number of sex toys.
They found the camera linked to a TV in Birkbeck’s bedroom.
Birkbeck, who denied the charge, told magistrates he was “playing detective” as he believed that the couple were taking drugs.
But police stressed there was no evidence of drug taking and that the couple were respectable working people.
Anne Mitchell, prosecuting, said the 34-year-old woman of Redcar and her 43-year-old boyfriend, of Guisborough, stayed in the double room at the guest house on November 25 and then returned for a proposed two-night stay.
Ms Mitchell said: “Sexual activity took place and then the woman saw a camera in a gap near the wardrobe and the police were called and Mr Birkbeck was arrested on suspicion of voyeurism.”
Repeatedly in tears while giving evidence, the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said her boyfriend often worked away.
She said they arrived at Kastle Court at about 6.15pm on November 30.
“We had a bit of an argument, there were raised voices and then we made it up and were intimate.
“I was sat on the edge of the bed next morning and in the gap near the wardrobe I said jokingly to (her boyfriend) ‘It looks like a camera!’
“But when he moved the wardrobe there was a camera pointing at the four poster bed and it was connected up.
“My boyfriend phoned the police and I felt destroyed.
“The police told us to stay in the room and not let anyone in and we waited for them for about 10 hours.”
The boyfriend went to reception to complain, but no one opened the door.
The man said: “We stayed in room Number 1. There were lots of intimate moments. I looked and there was a camera pointing at the bed and I got angry.”
He said six LED lights on the camera were taped over so they could not be seen and added: “The bed was in sight of the camera - definitely.”
Sgt Paul McDonnell, of Cleveland Police, said police found the camera screwed to the wall.
Sgt McDonnell said they viewed the monitor in Birkbeck’s private apartment and its picture was very clear and there was also sound. The officer could see 90% of the bed.
Birkbeck was interviewed by several officers, but said he viewed the room only for a few minutes when the couple were clothed and then switched the screen off.
Detective Constable Carl Wooding, of Redcar CID said in one interview Birkbeck claimed he heard one of the couple make a reference which he took to be drugs.
But there was no evidence of any drugs, he said.
He added: “There was found a large amount of pornographic DVDs and videos - pretty hardcore.”
Birkbeck, who owns several other properties in the area, said in his defence that he had heard banging and scratching in the couple’s room on their previous visit.
This “annoyed” him and he became suspicious and found some security cameras that were about 10 years old and decided to install one in the No 1 room.
He said: “We’ve had a lot of drug taking in the hotel over the years.
“We have a very good reputation and want to keep it that way.
“I did place the camera there. It was a very foolish thing to do. I regret it and apologise to the people involved.”
He said he watched the camera for about 10 minutes. A woman walked across it and there was a “serious argument” and he thought he heard a reference to marijuana, but then switched it off.
His partner Caroline Tait, 61, who runs the hotel with Birkbeck, said she and an associate of theirs Alan Carr were with Birkbeck for most of the evening.
She recalled they watched TV, Mr Carr left and the couple went to bed. She did not recall her partner leaving the room apart from routine answering of the door.
On pornography she said: “I think that’s a personal thing, but Mr Birkbeck did have porn videos.”
Birkbeck will be sentenced in July after the preparation of a pre-sentence report. He declined to comment after leaving court.
