A CYBER attack on a Grays woman which included her iCloud account being hacked and her personal intimate pictures posted online has led to the jailing of a man.

Tony Spencer, 38, of Victoria Hill, Eye, Suffolk, was sentenced today at Basildon Crown Court (Friday, 30 January), for various computer misuse act offences hacking iCloud accounts of young women as well as using covert cameras to film women and young children getting changed at a leisure centre in Norfolk.

He received a total of 32 months immediate custodial sentence for nine counts of voyeurism, five counts of taking an indecent photographs of a child and 12 counts of Computer Misuse Act (Hacking) Offences. He was put on the Sex Offenders' Register for life and was given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for ten years.

Spencer previously admitted the offences at Basildon Magistrates' Court on Thursday, 19 September 2019.

In 2017, Essex Cyber Crime Team discovered that Spencer had accessed iCloud accounts without the owner's consent to obtain private sexual images for his own and others sexual gratification.

A police spokesperson said: "During several searches of his home address, we found computer equipment containing the victims' pictures as well as software used to access these accounts. Twelve victims were identified and they were informed.

On Spencer's computer equipment were also secret recordings made using specialist hidden recording equipment at his home address to capture his own sexual activities.

There were also recordings made at Diss Leisure Centre in Norfolk where he secretly filmed young women and children getting changed in the changing rooms.

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These are believed to have been recorded between 2006 and 2011.

Detective Sergeant Ian Collins, of Essex Police's Cyber Crime Team said: "Spencer is a sexual predator who has now been brought to justice for his actions.

"The victims have been through an extremely distressing and emotional time throughout this investigation and can now have some justice with Spencer being prosecuted and placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for life, which will also acts as a deterrent for other offenders.

"Spencer went to extreme lengths to obtain images of young women and children without permission for his own and others sexual gratification.

"His secret lifestyle went hidden for many years until we received just a single report that revealed much, much more.

"He used his specialist knowledge to hack his unsuspecting victims' accounts and then accessed their most intimate photographs for his own sexual purpose and that of others.

"Spencer had no regard to the distress and embarrassment he caused the victims. We have now uncovered a long history of offending shown in his use of hidden cameras used at the swimming pool where he targeted both women and children at the point of getting changed into swimwear.

"This case highlights the importance of using two-factor authentication (2FA) on your online accounts."

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This investigation is part of a larger Essex Police investigation involving a number of suspects across the country found to be hacking into hundreds of iCloud accounts.

It started after the victim from Grays reported her iCloud account being hacked.