A PEEPING tom who secretly filmed women and schoolgirls undressing at a remote rural holiday cottage was jailed for two-and-a-half years today.

Farmer David Sturgess, aged 53, was taken away to prison still protesting his innocence.

A judge branded his action a "gross intrusion" as he passed sentence at Swansea Crown Court.

His comments came after he had heard that Sturgess's victims had felt "violated and angry" at the intrusion into their private moments.

Sturgess rigged up an array of high-tech cameras hidden inside fake smoke detectors at his rural retreat in Llandysul, mid-Wales.

He then filmed women in various states of undress and also in the shower, on the toilet and shaving parts of their anatomy.

Among his victims were schoolgirls aged 14 and 17 holidaying at the cottage with their families.

A trial at the same venue last month heard Sturgess was able to zoom in on his victims using the hidden cameras and also crank up the volume.

He would also record live images to re-view later "for his own sexual gratification".

Sturgess was found guilty of 12 counts of voyeurism and three counts of making indecent images of children in a two-day trial at the court last month.

During the trial he had refused to take the stand to give evidence in his own defence. The jury went on to take just two hours to find him guilty of all charges.