A PERVERT who used a hidden camera to spy on a girl in the shower was today (Friday, August 29) jailed for 18 months.

David Briddick, from Darlington, was told by a Teesside Crown Court judge what he had done was "shameful".

Briddick, a store manager, admitted three charges of voyeurism and two of taking an indecent photograph of a child.

His lawyer, Graham Silvester, told the court that he could give no explanation for his embarrassing fall from grace.

In an impact statement, the victim said she is now wary of men.

Sue Jacobs, prosecuting, said: "When boys look at her in a normal way, she thinks they are being 'pervy', in her word."

Judge Peter Bowers told Briddick, of The Causeway, Darlington: "What you did is shameful.

"Although you say there was no sexual motive, I can't think of any other reason why you would want to do it."

Briddick, who managed a food store in Redcar, east Cleveland, was put on the sex offenders' register for ten years.

He was made the subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order designed to restrict his contact with girls under 16.

Mr Silvester told the judge: "He is disgusted with himself, and he has lost his self-respect.

"He really can't give any explanation as to why he has done this.

"Why a man of his age, and with his good work record, and his obvious good points in being able to raise a family, has done this is as bemusing to him as it is to the rest of us."