A DORCHESTER agricultural contractor has been found guilty of secretly filming a 16-year-old girl in a bathroom.

Martin Pennells, of Cranes Meadow in Dorchester, claimed he had no sexual interest in the girl and was not trying to film her as she used the toilet, but a jury at Exeter Crown Court rejected his evidence.

The girl spotted his iPhone as she used the bathroom of a house in a village in North Devon early one morning in March this year.

The girl did not appreciate at first the seriousness of what had happened but her friend, who she had told about the incident in a Facebook message, persuaded her to tell a teacher, who called the police.

Pennells, 43, who worked as a contractor on farms, admitted making four or five recordings but denied doing so for any sexual reason.

He said he deleted the short video clips immediately and insisted he had no intention of seeing the girl naked or partially dressed.

Pennells denied four counts of voyeurism or attempted voyeurism but was found guilty.

Recorder Mr Philip Mott, QC, adjourned the case for a probation report and ordered Pennells to sign on the sex offenders’ register immediately.

He granted him bail with strict conditions not to contact the victim or go near her home or school.

He told him:”The fact that I am granting you bail is not to be taken as any indication of the ultimate sentence.

“A custodial sentence is still possible.”

During the two-day trial the prosecution said the only possible motive for his filming in the girl was sexual.

The girl told the jury she had just got up and was getting ready to go to school when she spotted the camera propped up in a pile of towels and pointing towards the toilet and wash basin.

She said:”The phone was recording.

I picked it up and stopped the recording and deleted it. It had happened once before in a downstairs toilet.”

Pennells said he had no sexual interest in the girl.

He said:”I did not do it to video her using the bathroom.

“I did not do it to obtain sexual gratification.

I had no sexual interest in the girl.

“I have never had any sexual interest in her.”

He said on the occasions when the recording had been successful, he had viewed it and deleted it immediately.

He said the allegations had ruined his life and added ‘I’m gutted’.