A PERVERT who secretly filmed women undressing as they used sunbeds has been banned from every tanning shop in the country.

For more than a year, Stewart McGill, 26, went to a string of tanning shops across Bootle armed with a camcorder.

The IT support worker would climb on top of the sunbeds to peer over the top of the cubicles and film the women in various stages of undress.

Liverpool Crown Court heard one of his victims was just 12 years old.

University-educated McGill was eventually caught on March 21 when one of his victims spotted the video camera as she stood naked, and began to scream.

Her furious boyfriend, who was in a nearby cubicle, gave chase, causing McGill to drop his mobile phone.

When McGill later returned to Hot Spot salon, in Marsh Lane, to collect his car, the boyfriend and tanning shop owner tried to catch him. He managed to escape, but they were able to tell police the registration number of his Renault Megane.

When officers visited his home in Penrhyn Avenue, Litherland, they found a disc with footage of 20 women.

McGill admitted he had visited at least seven sunbed shops in the Bootle area over the previous year, sometimes using his phone to record his victims.

Judge Mark Brown jailed McGill for eight months, and ordered him to sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.

He also banned him from entering tanning salons or anywhere a woman may “reasonable expect privacy” for five years.

Judge Brown said: “You filmed women in various stages of undress, some of the women were naked and some were wearing underwear, getting dressed and undressed.

“It is clear your purpose was to gain sexual gratification when you later viewed the film.”

He added: “I am satisfied that your activity involved a degree of planning and certainly a good deal of premeditation.”

The court heard one of McGill’s victims was hysterical after noticing the camcorder, and had to be prescribed sedatives by her doctor.

She no longer goes swimming, and refuses to use shop changing rooms.

All the women had been concerned he may have posted the footage on the internet.

McGill admitted six counts of voyeurism and asked for a further 17 to be taken into consideration. He also admitted one count of making indecent photographs of a child.

Jeremy Rawson, defending, said McGill knew what he was doing was wrong.