A twisted man who slyly positioned a camera inside a flower vase to covertly record his neighbour's private moments in her bedroom for an extended period has been prohibited from starting any romantic relationships without first informing social workers. Andrew Thomas, a groundskeeper, hoarded 40 hours of invasive footage of his neighbour by stealthily entering her residence repeatedly over half a year.

Thomas, aged 49, craftily installed a mobile phone camera within a bouquet of fake flowers after cultivating a friendship with the woman in the Perthshire hamlet they both resided in. Sheriff Alison McKay added Thomas to the Sex Offenders Register for a duration of five years and mandated him to fulfil 300 hours of unpaid community service.

She subjected him to two years of supervision by social work services and imposed a six-month curfew at the Perth homeless unit where he now resides, as Thomas found himself jobless subsequent to his actions, reports the Daily Record. The sheriff remarked on the case, "The circumstances of the offence are quite concerning and involve a violation of the complainer's home and her privacy. I'm not certain whether it's made better or worse that she was someone you befriended, rather than a stranger."

She instituted a 12-clause behavioural order encompassing limitations on his phone and web access, a no-contact directive towards his victim, and constraints on forming new friendships or intimate connections. Moreover, he has been excluded from returning to the hamlet neighbouring Pitlochry, where he committed the offence.

The Perth Sheriff Court heard the grim details of how the sex offender slipped into the woman's bedroom and planted the concealed device, driven by an obsession developed while observing her walk her dog. In court, solicitor Linda Clark, defending, said: "It seems that Mr Thomas was infatuated with the complainer. He thought a friendship was going to materialise into something different.

"That is no excuse to explain his decision to place a recording device within the complainer's household. He misinterpreted a situation, but again that's no excuse." The peeping tom, identified as Thomas, spent months secretly filming an elderly woman after hiding his camera phone in a vase at the foot of her bed.

A decade after committing a similar offence on an oil rig, Thomas was exposed when the victim, while adjusting her artificial flowers, stumbled upon the hidden device. The camera phone contained over 40 hours of footage capturing the 65 year old woman in various states of undress. The devious groundskeeper's actions were further uncovered when he was caught lurking inside the woman's home by her daughter and partner.

Thomas came clean about his actions and confessed his romantic feelings for the victim. He admitted to the clandestine recordings at her Perthshire residence from 29 January to 29 July 2023. Fiscal depute Rachel Hill informed the court that the victim lived alone in a small village close to Thomas's hometown of Pitlochry, describing it as "This is a small rural and close-knit community where most locals know one another," and noting that "Many residents often leave their homes insecure.

"She considered the accused to be a friend and they regularly socialised together with shared coffees, alcoholic drinks and dog walks." The court was informed that in December 2022, Thomas confessed to the woman his "deeper romantic feelings towards her" which were not reciprocated. Ms Hill revealed: "On July 29 2023, the complainer was in the process of rearranging artificial flowers in a vase at the foot of her bed.

"She became aware of an object within the vase, which had a camera lens pointing in the general direction of her bed. Upon further investigation, this was found to be a mobile phone attached to the inside of the vase, connected to a power bank also inside the vase."

The device was identified as a white iPhone, affixed with Velcro and protruding from the vase by about an inch. The fiscal depute disclosed: "It could be seen from the screen that a video recording was taking place. It appeared to have been running for a period of 40 hours and 45 minutes." When her daughter examined the photo gallery, she discovered 34 files.

"She could see from the thumbnails that there were intimate images of her mother in various stages of undress and also while naked," Ms Hill stated. The next day, Thomas stealthily entered the woman's home just after she had departed for church. Her daughter and her partner, who were close by, spotted him on the premises. They discovered the back door ajar and unlocked. Ms Hill revealed that a key, usually kept in the porch, had been used to gain entry.

Upon their arrival, Thomas emerged from a hallway door. When questioned about his presence, he hesitated for a while before claiming he was looking for a hedge trimmer battery, which was occasionally stored inside rather than in the garage.

Thomas was informed that he had no right to be in the property and consented to leave. The police later visited his residence that day. "He openly admitted the offence, stating he had entered the property whilst it was unlocked and placed the camera phone inside the vase. He said he had returned on numerous occasions to replace the battery but couldn't say how many times. He confirmed that he had romantic feelings towards the complainer and said the recordings were captured for a sexual purpose. He admitted he had gone to the house that day to check the phone but had been interrupted."

Upon being cautioned and charged, his response was: "Guilty." Back in 2014, the ex-offshore worker received an unpaid work order after being caught covertly filming a female colleague showering in her cabin on a North Sea rig. At that time, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told how he stealthily entered the victim's cabin and concealed his mobile in her bathroom. Hidden behind a white sheet of paper, the phone was set to record her as she bathed, but she noticed the concealed device.

Speaking outside the court at the time, she expressed: "How could he do that to me? It makes my flesh creep to think what he might have done with the videos."