A STORE worker hid a mobile phone in a toilet so he could film a woman.

But now Waheed Rehman has been told he must undergo a three-year sex offender treatment programme after admitting charges of voyeurism.

Married father-of-three Rehman was arrested by police after the woman, who cannot be identified, discovered the phone wedged between pipes and partially covered by a dishcloth in the toilet at the Newsome Convenience Store in Huddersfield.

Bradford Crown Court heard that when the woman had used the toilet previously Rehman had always said he wanted to use it first so he could go in and start recording with the phone.

Prosecutor Philip Standfast said during the incident in May 2010 the woman discovered that the phone had been recording for 15 minutes and she realised that she had been recorded four times in total.

“She felt scared, shocked and sick at what she had discovered,” said Mr Standfast.

The complainant threw the phone in a pan of water as she left and when police visited Rehman’s home in Stile Common Road, Newsome, they recovered the still wet device.

Rehman initially claimed that he had dropped the phone and it must have recorded accidentally, but Mr Standfast said the device was examined and police found a two-hour recording which also showed a young girl using the toilet and a man having a bath.

The 33-year-old’s barrister Soheil Khan said Rehman was ashamed of his offending and had expressed remorse.

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC said the public would say that Rehman was a “disgusting person with some very sordid habits”.

“I can’t and don’t use that language ... it would be very uncivilised for me to do so,” the judge added.

“The reality is you got a kick out of photographing both female children and grown-up women.”

The judge noted that someone pleading guilty to such behaviour was expected to receive a community penalty according to the sentencing guidelines council.

“That will cause the public the same feeling of disquiet that I share, but looking at it in another way if I sent you to prison any chance of turning you away from this wicked little habit will be lost,” said Judge Durham Hall.

The judge said he was tempted to jail Rehman but he would control his feelings of repugnance and disgust and give the Probation Service a chance to work with him.

Judge Durham Hall said the community order would include “rigorous” conditions including the sex offender treatment programme, a six-month electronically-monitored home curfew between 7pm and 6am and 150 hours unpaid work.

Rehman will also have to pay costs totalling £1,500 and he will have to register as a sex offender for the next five years.