A SPY cam pervert who peeped on his female house guests sobbed in court as a judge jailed him for more than three years.

Married man Grant Morton installed hidden cameras in the bathroom and guest bedroom of his Park South home.

The cameras filmed teen girls as they used the bathroom, showered, got dressed and engaged in intimate acts.

The IT expert downloaded private photographs off a girl’s phone having offered to charge it from his laptop, before sharing the indecent images with two friends over Skype. He stole private images belonging to another woman he had met online, taking the pictures as he repaired her computer.

When police seized Morton’s Lenovo computer and other electronic devices they uncovered a shocking stash of more than 55,000 indecent images of teen girls – including 125 in the most serious category.

Prosecuting, Hannah Squire said police had been alerted to concerns about 46-year-old Morton’s relationship with a vulnerable girl then aged 16.

Detectives raided Morton’s home in May 2017 and seized a number of devices. Interviewed by officers, Morton told police they would find indecent images of children on his devices.

A search of the house later uncovered the hidden cameras used to film three teens as they stayed at his home. The girls were aged between 15 or 16 and 18 at the time.

Morton admitted he would watch the footage and either delete it or save it to watch later. He confessed to downloading explicit images from one of the girl’s phones as he charged it from his computer.

Ms Squire said evidence pointed to Morton downloading a number of images from another female friend’s computer as he repaired it in 2012 or 2013.

He claimed to have got no pleasure from recording the three women or from his stash of indecent pictures.

Ms Squire said: “He referred to it being an adrenaline rush or a thrill in filming people secretly. However, he has accepted that he did get sexual gratification because that is very much part of the voyeurism offences.”

Three of Morton’s victims provided impact statements which were read to the court.

One woman, just 16 when she was filmed on the hidden cameras, said: “He should feel ashamed and disgusted. He took advantage of me when I was at my most vulnerable.”

Another woman said her mental health had deteriorated as a result of the case and she had begun self-harming. Morton had sent her six emails and, fearing the man would come around to their home, her husband had installed CCTV. “He abused my trust,” she said of Morton.

Morton, of Purley Avenue, Park South, admitted voyeurism, taking an indecent image of a child, distributing indecent images, having indecent images of a child and an offence under the Computer Misuse Act.

Emma Handslip, defending, said Morton was remorseful for what he had done.

“One of the victims says he should feel shame. He does feel shame. He says, ‘’I am ashamed to see what started out at a very young age looking at normal pornography has snowballed into what it is today’,” she said.

“A light has been shone in his face and a mirror put in front of him and he doesn’t like what he sees.”

Morton was of previous good character and supported by his wife and mother-in-law. He had complied with the stringent terms of a Sexual Risk Order and had approached charity Stop It Now for help to tackle his interest in underage girls.

Disabled Morton was said to be particularly disgusted in himself that he had abused the trust of a woman he had met on a web forum meant to support those with disabilities.

Wearing a suit and tie, Morton kept his head bowed for much of the hearing at Swindon Crown Court. He could be heard crying in the dock.

Jailing Morton for three years and one month, Judge Peter Crabtree said: “All of the counts involved raised culpability factors. There is significant planning here. You have thought about where to observe your victims, purchased the equipment and set it up.

“These offences are simply too serious for anything other than an immediate custodial sentence.”

He will be placed on the sex offenders’ register for life and was made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order banning him from unsupervised contact with girls under-16.