Thomas Jason Connell, 27, used a covert camera to film his victims – some of whom were children – in backstage changing rooms where he was appearing in two theatre shows in Edinburgh
A perverted entertainer set up a camera to spy on women and children during costume changes in theatre dressing rooms.
According to the Daily Record , Thomas Jason Connell, 27, used a covert camera to film his victims in backstage changing rooms where he was appearing in two theatre shows in Edinburgh. He was also discovered to have recorded children while they were naked when he was supervising that at a swimming pool.
When police seized his mobile phone, the theatre performer – who went by the stage name of T-J Connell – was also found to have videos showing him upskirting women, in addition to horrific images of child abuse. The sicko pleaded guilty to eight offences of voyeurism and possessing indecent images of children when he appeared from custody at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday, December 10.
Prosecutor Connor Muir told the court the actor and singer, of the capital’s Stenhouse area, had been placed on the sex offenders register for two years after being found with child abuse images in November last year. Police carried out an unannounced visit to his home to check his devices two months later and discovered videos of “men and women in their underwear getting changed backstage during a theatre show”.
Mr Muir said Connell voluntarily admitted to the officers he had “experimented with voyeurism around the time he had been convicted for the indecent images” and his phone and a laptop were seized. A forensic examination of the devices uncovered several video clips of Connell placing a camera in the bathrooms of two homes he had visited capturing women “showering naked” between November 2019 and June 2022.
Victims including a 17-year-old girl were said to have “broken down in tears” and told police they were “shocked and disturbed” when informed of the footage taken of them. Police also found a covert 48 minute video showing male and female children in their swimwear at an Edinburgh swimming pool where Connell was said to be “supervising them” in January 2020.
The footage featured naked children who were “clearly under 13 years of age” walking around the changing room. Further footage captured by Connell’s hidden camera showed children aged between 11 and 16-years-old getting undressed while backstage at two theatres in the capital between August 2019 and February 2020.
Mr Muir said Connell’s face and voice was included on the footage as he set up the device and the images depicted male and female children in various states of undress during costume changes at the theatres. The court was told all the victims did not know about the recordings and had later described the footage as “shocking, inappropriate and a violation of trust”.
The fiscal depute said police also found videos of Connell upskirting two women at the city’s Waverley train station on separate dates in December last year. Mr Muir said: “These females have never been identified and do not seem to be aware they are being recorded.”
Police then discovered Connell had two category A child abuse videos downloaded to his phone depicting “children aged 10 to 14 years old being subjected to penetrative sexual activity”. Lawyer Cameron Tait, defending, said he was not making a motion for bail and would reserve his mitigation to the sentencing hearing.
Sheriff Derek O’Carroll placed Connell on the sex offenders register and remanded him in custody. Sentence was deferred for the preparation of social work reports and a risk assessment to next month.
Connell’s website describes him as “a well-rounded entertainer whose soft rock stylings have pleased many an ear” and states he has “a relaxed and approachable stage demeanour”. He released his debut album Stand Fast in 2019 and has appeared in several Edinburgh Fringe theatre productions including Annie and Whistle Down The Wind.
