Thomas Milton, who worked as a technician, used a spy camera to record women and teenage girls in changing rooms and used AI to create indecent pseudo-photographs of children
A man described as a “classic Peeping Tom” filmed women and girls getting undressed with a secret spy camera and used an AI bot to create naked photos of underage girls.
Thomas Milton, 32, bought a spy camera from TikTok Shop and hid it in changing rooms to record women and teenage girls, as young as 13, without their knowledge, a court heard. Milton, who worked as a technician, also filmed two women in their homes, the court was told.
Charlie Thompson, prosecuting, said Milton, who admitted making indecent pseudo-photographs of children, was caught after the camera he set up was found in the changing rooms. During Milton’s trial at Durham Crown Court, a jury heard he claimed he hid the camera for the “thrill” and said it was not for the purpose of sexual gratification.
However, sentencing Judge Richard Bennett said Milton’s claim was “palpable nonsense”. On Monday, Teesside Crown Court heard Milton hid the same camera in a woman’s bedroom twice and on one occasion captured the woman removing all of the clothing on her lower half, Teesside Live reported.
Taking the stand to read her victim impact statement, the woman said: “It doesn’t feel real. I felt sick, violated and utterly disgusted. I still get flashbacks.”
She said she did not feel safe and it took weeks to return to her own home. The victim told the court: “I was unable to sleep and eat for weeks and became very unwell. I will never forgive him for what he has done.”
Another woman, who was unknowingly filmed in her own home, said in her victim impact statement: “I do not feel safe in my own home. Your home should be your safe space.” She and her partner have decided to move house as a result.
The court heard that Milton took “innocent” photographs from social media of clothed teenage girls and asked AI software to make them naked on three separate occasions. Since his offending came to light, Milton has lost his home, career, reputation, friends and his partner, the court heard.
Sentencing Milton, who appeared in court via video link from Home House Prison, Judge Bennett said: “Your full name is Thomas, you were known as Tom. You are the classic Peeping Tom who spies on young women and teenage girls for your own sexual gratification.”
He said Milton, from Eston, North Yorkshire, had shown no remorse and knew what he was doing, adding: “You are clearly highly intelligent but equally manipulative, deviant and dishonest.”
Milton was jailed for three years and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for the rest of his life, restricting his contact with children and internet and social media use. Judge Bennett added: “Your use of AI in this offending highlights the real danger of posting innocent images of children on social media which can be manipulated by people who have a sexual interest in children.”
During their investigation, officers from Cleveland Police recovered, seized and forensically examined up to 35 devices. Detective Constable Jonathon Collins of Cleveland Police said: “From the beginning, Milton has consistently made outrageous claims for why he chose to place cameras in the changing room and in the bedroom of a property to secretly film members of the public, refusing to acknowledge and accept any wrongdoing. He has violated the privacy of many people, including young children, spying on them for what I believe is for his own gratification.
“The investigation involved reviewing countless amounts of footage and then in doing so we came across images that Milton had created from the content he had filmed. I am pleased a jury could see through his lies and convict him of these offences where he has been rightly sentenced, securing justice for all the victims.”
