Voyeur bank worker caught filming women with GoPro in toilets

A bank employee has been convicted of voyeurism for the second time after being caught using a GoPro camera to secretly film dozens of women in a toilet.

Richard Knowland was caught after a female employee at the bank in Bristol city centre found the device hidden in a toilet roll holder, the Bristol Post reported Thursday (31 August).

The 61-year-old, who was employed as a maintenance worker, fled to Weymouth after the discovery and slept in his car while on the run.

He was eventually found having sustained superficial injuries when attempting to slit his wrists.

Knowland, who was jailed in 2015 for another voyeurism offence when he used a hidden camera inside a shower gel bottle to film a lodger, was arrested and charged.

He appeared in court accused of filming 26 adult women in the bathroom of the unnamed bank between 14 and 16 June this year.

"On June 15 this year [one of the victims] was at her place of work when she was in the female toilets," Leanne Woodman, prosecuting, told Bristol Crown Court.

"When she put her hand in the toilet roll holder she felt something warm. She found a small object. She alerted a member of staff and they found it was a black GoPro camera."

A man matching Knowland's appearance was seen near the toilets around the time of the offence, the court heard.

Woodman added: "Mr Knowland left the premises immediately and did not report for work thereafter. Police were unable to locate him. On July 24 he contacted his daughter, who told police where he could be found."

During police interviews Knowland was said to have told officers he wanted the videos of the women "for his own sexual gratification".

He was sentenced to one month in prison for one count of voyeurism and for failing to notify police of his change of address.

He was also made subject to a three-year community order, during which he will have to carry out 100 days of sex offender treatment.