JAILED: Staffordshire Peeping Tom who filmed student with hidden camera

Trained physiotherapist David Heel hid the video camera in a small cardboard box in the bathroom of a house in Staffordshire, Stafford Crown Court heard.

The victim, who cannot be identified, had pulled a muscle and Heel had offered to manipulate her back, but she found the camera while using the bathroom.

Mr Graham Russell, prosecuting, said the distraught young woman phoned her mother, who confronted Heel about what her daughter had found.

He was later seen in his garage, smashing up his computer with a hammer, saying it was 'evil'.

He was subsequently taken to St George's hospital in Stafford and kept in for 10 days suffering from a mental breakdown.

Heel, aged 55, of Kinver, admitted two charges of voyeurism.

In his basis of plea, Heel said the camera had not been connected directly to a computer but to a usb storage device.

He admitted: "I gained sexual gratification when the image was observed on two occasions."

Mr Paul Lamb, mitigating, said Heel had served in the army treating soldiers who had been seriously injured in the Falklands and Iraq wars.

He said: "Some of the injuries were so horrific it had a profound effect on him.

"He had an honourable discharge from the army and had a well respected position of responsibility up until a few months before these offences took place."

Since his arrest he has managed to get a job as a quality control manager within a health organisation.

Mr Lamb added: "He recognises he has caused a significant amount of distress.

"He was suffering from a degree of stress, he didn't receive any medical assistance at that point.

Recorder Miss Tracey Lloyd-Nesling said the crime involved 'a very significant breach of trust'.

She told Heel: "You have held some really responsible positions.

The judge heard that as well as hiding a camera in a cardboard box, Heel had also used a modified pen holder.

In a victim impact statement, the young student said she still has recurrent nightmares if she reads or hears about anything of a similar

nature and the grades of her studies had suffered.