A TWISTED Stourbridge music teacher who admitted spying on girls in a toilet has avoided a jail term.

Paul Bodley rigged up a secret camcorder in the toilets at Red Hill School, Junction Road, to take indecent pictures of female staff and pupils.

At Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday July 6, Bodley, aged 55, was sentenced to a three year Community Order with a condition he goes onto the Sex Offenders programme.

Judge Michael Dudley also ruled Bodley should have no contact with anyone under 18 without the permission of his supervisor.

The perverted married father of two was rumbled when a 15 year old girl at the school spotted the camera, which had been hidden inside a box with a slit and buried amongst exam papers on a shelf.

Mr Andrew Jackson prosecuting told the court some care and attention had been taken regarding the location of the camera which, after being set up by Bodley, ran continuously.

The girl who found the camera told a friend and, after one of their parents discovered what had taken place, the headmaster was notified and the police were called in.

Bodley said after his arrest that it had become an "obsession" and he went on to add that he had embarked on a "course of destruction".

The former teacher admitted a charge of voyeurism involving the installation of the camcorder to observe others in a private act for sexual gratification.

The judge said it was a case that obviously merited an immediate sentence of custody because of the possible psychological damage done to those who felt they had been filmed inside the toilet block.

But he said time behind bars would mean that Bodley, of Church View, Bewdley, would be unable to continue receiving psychiatric treatment to resolve his problems.

Mr Tony Ventham defending said Bodley had been in the teaching profession for over 35 years and he had destroyed all the hard work he had put into his career.

He was held in high esteem by his pupils, said Mr Ventham who added that there was no suggestion any of the filmed images were distributed.

They were rather amateur offences doomed to be discovered sooner or later, he went on, and Bodley accepted there had been some sexual gratification.

The girl who found the camera and her friend did not want to take the matter further, the court heard, because they both felt Bodley was a good teacher, a friend and someone who was always there to give support.

The court was told the Bodley's wife was standing by him and Mr Ventham stressed he had been so disturbed by what he had done that he sought out immediate psychiatric help.