Voyeur rapist jailed 'indefinitely' for public protection » Communities » 24dash.com

A rapist whose eight-year history of secretly filming women and children was only discovered after a neighbour found a tiny hole in his ceiling, was today jailed indefinitely for public protection.

Anthony Batchelor, 33, who had been videoing the neighbour's partner sunbathing naked, was caught out by a coin-shaped spyhole in the roof, Gloucester Crown Court heard.

Police who scoured Batchelor's computer at his home in Gloucester found damning footage he had taken just before raping a young woman at knifepoint and threatening her with red-hot hair tongs.

Officers also found clips of him setting up a spy camera by his lavatory to film four women. And they found he had captured - and "zoomed-in" on - women and children changing at swimming pools.

Judge William Hart told Batchelor the unlimited sentence reflected the "sexual depravity" he had put his victims through.

The father-of-one admitted 14 offences, including rape, voyeurism, and possessing child pornography.

He can be considered for release after three years and nine months, but will be freed only if an expert parole panel deems he is no longer a threat.

Prosecutor Ray Tully said Batchelor's crimes were uncovered while he was living with then girlfriend Debbie Peters, whom he met on the internet.

While looking for a missing laptop last July his female next-door neighbour found "debris" on the floor and later a hole in the ceiling "about the size of a coin".

A camera had been set-up in the bedroom via wires in the attic space, on which the intimate footage had been captured.

Mr Tully said the amateur film even showed him "zooming in on her private parts". Underwear, a photo album and camera memory card had also been taken from the bedroom.

The victim felt "physically sick, isolated, paranoid, vulnerable, and no longer able to sleep in the bedroom", Mr Tully said.

Police took a large volume of computer equipment from the defendant's permanent address in another road, where they found more disturbing episodes recorded for Batchelor's pleasure.

There were short films of three teenagers and a women being filmed using a toilet at the address, via a camera tucked away in a laundry basket.

The former sexual partners of Batchelor, described as by the judge as someone who used "charm" as as weapon, were interviewed because many of them featured in the videos.

Mr Tully said that another woman who had been a neighbour of Batchelor's in 2004 had "barricaded herself in using a chest of drawers" such was her unease about him.

Images of swimming pool scenes featuring women and children were part of the grim collection, which went back as far as 1999.

In one incident he imprisoned a young woman in a bedroom against her will, and made her put on a dress before slashing it with a knife.

He threatened to sexually assault her with heated hair straighteners and forced her to engage in intercourse with him.

The court heard he had served three months in jail after posting explicit images of a woman in the internet, along with her personal details, with a caption suggesting she welcomed being raped.

Paul Grumbar, defending, said his client was a "whimpering wreck rather than a predator" claiming that his sexual problems stemmed from inadequacy.

He said: "Far from the beast who has been depicted by the complainants, he is extremely vulnerable, from time to time suicidal, almost permanently tearful and thoroughly inadequate.

"Because of his inadequacy he needs to emphasise his sexuality at all times to those he deals with."

Jailing Batchelor, Judge Hart said: "The shame, disgust and lasting unease will persist in some of those young women for the rest of their lives."

After the case Detective Inspector Mark Chicken, of Gloucestershire police, said he was "extremely happy" that Batchelor had been brought to justice after so many years.

Det Insp Chicken said what seemed to be a simple burglary case, following the theft of the neighbour's laptop, had grown quickly into a year-long investigation into a serious sexual predator.

A selection of child pornography was also found on the computer.

He added: "This was a prolonged and detailed investigation that mixed hi-tech investigation techniques with traditional police work.

"Through the hard work and dedication of the investigating officers, and with the co-operation and courage of victims and witnesses, what began as a straight-forward burglary inquiry rapidly expanded into a major investigation into numerous sexual offences, against multiple victims, across several years.

"We are very pleased that we were able to bring together all the evidence in such a way that Batchelor had no choice but to admit to 14 offences, many of them extremely serious.

"Though the investigation was complex and convoluted at times, one thing to come out of it is crystal clear; Anthony Batchelor was, and remains, a sexual predator and a danger to the public.

"We are pleased that the sentence handed out today means that he is where he should be, behind bars, and likely to stay there for a considerable period of time."

Batchelor admitted 14 offences, including rape, false imprisonment, actual bodily harm, trespassing with intent to commit a sexual offences, two burglaries, three counts of possessing indecent images of children and voyeurism.