A former Oswestry businessman used hidden cameras to film women using toilets and a bathroom, a court heard.

One of 54-year-old Mark Blezard's victims described him as a 'miserable pervert' after he had admitted a series of voyeurism offences.

The former company director was jailed for two years when he appeared at Shrewsbury Crown Court last week.

The court heard that cameras had been used at two properties and the filming was discovered after Blezard was linked to a Russian sex chat room.

Blezard, formerly of Morda, and now of Hanover Street, Bath, had pleaded guilty to 13 voyeurism charges, four of possessing indecent images and three offences of engaging in sexual activity with a child relating to the chatroom webcam.

In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Anthony Lowe made Blezard the subject of sexual harm prevention order and he must sign the sex offenders – both for a period of 10 years.

Judge Lowe also imposed a five-year restraining order preventing Blezard having any contact with the identified voyeurism victims.

One of the victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons, read out an impact statement to the court.

The woman said she was “shocked and furious” by how Blezard breached the victims' trust by invading their privacy, resulting in “life changing” emotional problems for them.

“He is a miserable, pathetic pervert and I hope he suffers," she stated.

Howard Searle, prosecuting, told the court the offences covered a period from 2008 and had come to light in April, 2017.

Investigators came across email communications linking Blezard to a Russian sex chat room and an email address was traced to the defendant which was being used to upload images to a Russian website.

"Among the images was one of a young girl coming out of a shower scantily dressed," he said. "That was traced to the defendant."

He said further checks led detectives to three laptops containing a collection which included labelled footage of a number of women in a toilet. The women were traced and Blezard was charged with the voyeurism offences.

Police discovered more than 1,500 still and moving images with more than 220 in categ ory A, the most extreme.

Edmund Vickers QC, for Blezard, said that his client apologised for his actions.