A SHAMED solicitor who put a video camera in a ladies' toilet and filmed female staff is facing jail.
A SHAMED solicitor who put a video camera in a ladies' toilet and filmed female staff is facing jail.
Peter Fitzpatrick, 49, from Rutherglen, hid the device in a cardboard box in the toilet at upmarket Stirling law firm Muirhead Buchanan.
The father-of-two, a solicitor for 27 years, was caught when a suspicious secretary noticed a circular hole in the side of the box was pointing straight at the pedestal.
Stirling Sheriff Court heard the toilet, on the third floor next to Fitzpatrick's office, had been used for some time for storing empty cardboard boxes, but had been completely cleared out.
A 24-year-old secretary found that one of the boxes had "reappeared" and discovered a video cassette recorder and tape inside in March 2007.
Kate Mulligan, prosecuting, said the secretary put the camera back in the box and bumped into Fitzpatrick as she left the toilet.
She told him what she had found and Fitzpatrick - a partner in the firm - said he would "look into it".
When nothing happened, the secretary's boyfriend phoned Fitzpatrick and told him he thought the police should be informed.
Fitzpatrick then confessed in front of a partner of the business and police were called.
Several other members of staff said they had used the ladies' toilet while the box was in place.
Fitzpatrick, of Peveril Avenue, Burnside, pleaded guilty to breach of the peace by hiding the camera in the toilet between March 7 and 14. His not guilty plea to trying to persuade the secretary not to report the incident was accepted.
Sheriff Wyllie Robertson placed him on the sex offenders' register and deferred sentence until July for reports.
A Muirhead Buchanan spokesman said: "Mr Fitzpatrick is no longer with the firm and we are glad the matter has been resolved."
Fitzpatrick, who specialised in domestic and commercial conveyancing, refused to comment.
