A police officer who covertly recorded men using public toilets and showers for his own sexual gratification has been jailed for 19 months.
Alexander Hindmarsh, who resigned from West Midlands Police after carrying out the “horrible” offences over a period of almost two years, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing.
The 32-year-old, of Dulverton Avenue, Coventry, was also ordered to register as a sex offender at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday, after being told his claims in police interviews of “consensual voyeurism” were absurd lies.
Prosecutor Robert Tolhurst told the hearing that Hindmarsh, described as being on a “fast-track” route to the rank of inspector, was chased and detained by members of the public and shop security guards in Coventry on November 13 last year.
The court heard the constable, who was on annual leave, had been apprehended after a victim spotted him using his phone to film over the wall of a toilet cubicle at Coventry’s Cannon Park Shopping Centre.
Mr Tolhurst told the court that Hindmarsh was taken to a custody block at Perry Barr in Birmingham, while officers searched his home.
“The defendant tried to say it was all a mess and a mistake,” Mr Tollhurst said.
Although no recording of the incident that led to his arrest was found, the response officer’s phone was examined and footage of 39 other examples of suspected voyeurism were discovered.
A total of 28 videos of men using toilet cubicles and showers, including some thought to be from service stations in Staffordshire and Worcestershire, were identified and Hindmarsh later admitted charges of observing and recording persons doing private acts between December 2020 and November 2022.
The court was told the videos showed some of the victims naked, while it was clear none of them had any idea they were being filmed.
Passing sentence, Judge Dean Kershaw criticised Hindmarsh’s claims that he mistook one of the victims for his partner and that “consensual voyeurism was a thing in the gay community.”
It's my belief that you did know better but you thought when you were committing these offences that you simply wouldn't get caught. That's why you continued to do it for so long— Judge Dean Kershaw
The judge told the former constable: “These offences were done for your sexual gratification.
“I have watched each and every one of the exhibits. It is absolutely obvious that these people are not consenting.
“You are – or were – a police officer – a police officer who no doubt would have gone on and eventually become an inspector.
“For two years you were engaged in this kind of conduct – your crime has consequences and you should have known better.
“It’s my belief that you did know better but you thought when you were committing these offences that you simply wouldn’t get caught. That’s why you continued to do it for so long.”
Attacking Hindmarsh’s account to police after his arrest, the judge added: “You gave absurd statement littered with lie after lie.
The prosecution case was able to unpick his lies, leaving Hindmarsh with little choice but to admit his guilt— Julia Powell, CPS
In a statement issued following the sentencing, the Crown Prosecution Service said the locations identified during the inquiry included service stations at Tamworth and Hopwood Park, near Bromsgrove.
Julia Powell, from the CPS, said: “These men were oblivious to being filmed while they used public lavatories.
“When initially arrested Hindmarsh told officers that he had believed it was his partner in the cubicle beside him on that occasion.
“But during police interview Hindmarsh later said that the incident in which he had been caught out had simply been as a result of a ‘misunderstanding’ – having arranged to meet a man from the Grindr app for ‘some fun’.
“The prosecution case was able to unpick his lies, leaving Hindmarsh with little choice but to admit his guilt.”
