NEW BBC documentary, Hunting the Spycammers, uncovers a dark online network in which footage filmed on hidden cameras in bedrooms, bathrooms, changing rooms and other private spaces is liked and shared. 

Welsh presenter Jess Davies goes undercover to infiltrate this world and finds spycammers boasting about filming wives, girlfriends and strangers without their knowledge, including someone who plants spycams on a walking route to catch women stopping to wee in a bush where there are no public toilets.

Hunting the Spycammers will land on the BBC’s YouTube channels and BBC iPlayer on Wednesday 15 July. It is a co-commission by BBC Current Affairs and BBC Cymru Wales for BBC Three and is produced by Rock Paper Productions.

During her investigation, Jess discovers the range of spycam tech available – cameras disguised as everyday objects like pens, air fresheners and plugs. They’re cheap, easy to buy and almost impossible to spot. Jess speaks to one woman who went to the toilet while eating at a popular high-street restaurant chain and discovered a tiny camera hidden under the toilet seat that had the ability to livestream footage.

To get inside the world of spycammers, Jess teams up with investigative journalist Liam Connell. They discover a sprawling voyeur website – a hub from which users link to encrypted chat groups – and found evidence of illegal, non‑consensual footage being shared anonymously, including by users in the UK. 

Posing as a new “spycammer” looking for advice, they infiltrate these groups from the inside. The evidence they uncover is deeply disturbing: perpetrators openly swapping stories of and tips on how to secretly film family members, partners, flatmates and strangers in private moments like sleeping, showering, changing – and boasting about the footage they captured.

For Jess, this investigation into spycams is personal: driven by her own experience of being secretly photographed naked while sleeping and the image shared on a private WhatsApp group. Speaking about what they discovered in their investigation, Jess said: “It’s a never-ending cycle of mass distribution of non-consensual content of women. It feels like these women are being hunted down and prayed upon.”

Jess confronts some of those who are behind the spycams to ask why they do it, if they know what they’re doing is illegal by capturing non-consensual footage, and whether they feel any sympathy for those who are being targeted.

Sian Harris, Commissioning Editor for BBC Cymru Wales, said: “Anyone who watches this film will relate to the horrific thought of being filmed by a secret camera in those private spaces: a bedroom, the shower, a changing room. Jess and Liam’s compelling investigation not only reveals this as a growing crime, but shines a light on the shady places where non-consensual videos are being traded and asks the questions we’d all want answers to about how and why is this happening.”

Hunting the Spycammers is produced by Rock Paper Productions, the Executive Producers are Cat Donohoe and Catherine Welton and the Producer/Director is Ally Roberts. The Commissioning Editors for the BBC are Rachel Platt and Sian Harris.

A HAVERFORDWEST man has been banned from the road for more than three years after admitting drug-driving.

Paul Smith, 39, of Cormorant Close, Haverfordwest, appeared before Llanelli Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (Jul 8).

Smith pleaded guilty to driving a white Ford Transit on Crowhill Road, Haverfordwest, on January 25 with cannabis in his system.

The court heard that a blood test showed 17 microgrammes of Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol per litre of blood, exceeding the legal limit.

Magistrates imposed an obligatory driving disqualification of 38 months.

Smith was also fined £120 and ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs and a £48 surcharge.

The court made a collection order, with deductions to be taken from benefits.

A HAVERFORDWEST man has admitted failing to provide a specimen and driving without insurance, but denies drink-driving and careless driving allegations.

Jack Mills, 26, of Flat 11, Glebe House, Winch Lane, Haverfordwest, appeared before Llanelli Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (Jul 8).

The court heard that Mills admitted failing to provide a breath specimen for analysis at Cardigan on June 17, after being suspected of having driven a vehicle. He also admitted failing or refusing to provide a non-intimate sample for a Class A drug test while in police detention on the same date.

Mills also pleaded guilty to using a Ford Focus without third-party insurance at Bastleford, Rosemarket, on July 7.

He further indicated a guilty plea to fraudulently using a registration mark. The charge states that the Ford Focus’s correct registration was WL03 AHF, but it was being driven while displaying plates bearing the index T619 CKV.

However, Mills denied driving while over the alcohol limit at Rosemarket on July 7. The charge alleges he drove the Ford Focus on Bastleford, Rosemarket, with 44 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

He also denied driving without due care and attention on the same road and date.

Mills was made subject to an interim disqualification and was remanded on unconditional bail.

He is due to appear before Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court on September 7 for a two-hour trial.