Former Internal Affairs worker admits making intimate recordings

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A Wellington man had around 1400 'upskirt' recordings of women and schoolgirls, police say.

The man today pleaded guilty to six charges of making intimate visual recordings in Wellington between February 2012 and March 2013.

He was granted continued name suppression by Judge Chris Tuohy when he appeared before Wellington District Court.

Police seized 1400 recordings and opened 98. They found 94 contained intimate recordings of 180 females.

The footage featured women with children and babies, and some were undressed in a private bathroom without their knowledge.

A police spokesman said the man's offending was of a "prolific'' and "aggressive'' nature and "on the balance of probabilities, the remaining 1302 recordings contained intimate recordings''.

According to the police summary of facts read in court, the man attached a small camera to his laptop bag with gaffer tape and used it to film up the skirts and dresses of females in central Wellington.

He filmed 28 girls in school uniform, by following them while holding the laptop bag in a position to film their underwear. Five Wellington high schools were identified from the recordings.

The man also filmed victims at the Wellington public library.

The court heard 140 women filmed were mothers with babies or small children.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Kevin Shaw said between February last year and March this year the man used the modified laptop bag to film up the skirts of members of his church while delivering literature door-to-door in Wellington.

He also filmed church colleagues' underwear during meetings and a bride-to-be being fitted for her wedding dress at a private address.

The man also installed a camera in the shower cavity of his home to film his wife's friends and a daughter of a family friend.

He was arrested after being caught by a security guard while filming at a city centre store.

His lawyer, Andru Isac, said an application for permanent name suppression was to be made for the protection of the man's wife.

He will reappear next month.