Teacher jailed for filming girls

A music teacher and choirmaster has been jailed for 18 months after admitting using a pinhole camera in his bathroom to film girls undressing.

Christopher Bell, 39, of Norwich, admitted making indecent photographs of six girls aged between 12 and 15 between 1997 and 2005.

He also pleaded guilty to voyeurism after secretly filming three women.

Judge Peter Jacobs at Norwich Crown Court said the offences against the girls were "a violation of children".

The indecent photographs were discovered by his wife after they separated and police were called in.

The judge said: "This wasn't simply peeping through a keyhole. This is planned voyeurism."

Career finished

Bell, who taught at a school near Norwich and was a choirmaster at a Catholic church, secretly filmed females using a concealed camera at his home.

One was placed in a picture in his bathroom and another in his conservatory.

He had persuaded one 13-year-old girl to change into a corset in his office in preparation for a school musical production, then filmed her using the hidden camera.

Some victims were persuaded to change into leotards as part of "posture and breathing exercises" and Bell then filmed them getting undressed.

In a victim impact statement read out in court, one girl said she now found it difficult to trust people and had problems in her personal relationships.

Judge Jacobs told Bell he would be put on the sex offenders' register for 10 years and was banned from having contact with girls under the age of 16.

He said his career as a teacher was "finished".