A lab technician who planted a spy camera in toilets at the school where he worked, has been jailed for 10 months and put on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.

Timothy Garland, of London Road, Hindhead, installed the covert device in a pipe in the corner of the lavatories across a nine-day period. After his arrest 294,000 still images of people using the toilet were discovered on a device when one of the victims spotted a green light.

The 36 year old previously pleaded not guilty to one count of recording a person doing a private act but changed his plea to guilty two months before his trial at Guildford Crown Court.

Police launched an investigation and 12 victims from the 16GB memory card in the device were identified. The father-of-one’s home was searched and a number of items were seized, including a mobile phone holding 206 images.

Some victims were sat in court and impact statements read out, described suffering from physical and mental symptoms including stress and anxiety for which they had to have counselling. One said in court they felt “violated”.