Pervert stepfather recorded daughter in bath for years before being caught on eve of her 18th birthday
A stepfather has been found guilty of secretly capturing her daughter on camera during the bath. Thomas Craig Lewis had filmed Lauren Brightwood for years before being caught on eve of her 18th birthday. Brightwood said she always saw her stepfather as her real father since the age of four, but Lewis started recording her naked when she was 14. The Daily Mail reported that when the 35-year-old was confronted, he first said that he thought Brightwood was crying, but later admitted that he wanted to see how the girl looked as an adult. On Tuesday, December 22, Lewis was given a 10-month jail term suspended for 18 months along with 30 days of rehabilitation activity after he was found guilty of two counts of voyeurism. He was also asked to do 100 hours of unpaid work.
According to Wales Online, the victim saw the camera at the bathroom window two years ago. “I went into a state of shock, I didn't really know how to process it. This is not something that people normally have to deal with and I didn't know what to do. I am anxious when entering bathrooms as I don't want something to happen to me again. I don't think this is fair. Craig is not my biological dad but I treated him like once since age four,” Brightwood said. After spotting the camera, the teenager soon sent a text message to her mother Michelle to avoid alerting the man, prosecuting counsel Ben Gow stated.
Michelle then confronted the man and he eventually confessed that he secretly took videos of Brightwood while she was taking a bath in the house and their previous house in Wales. Police were informed about the incident that led to a probe into the case. Lewis ultimately surrendered himself to the authorities and admitted all his crimes. He told them that he filmed Brightwood five and ten times. The young woman said that years of horror has left her with anxiety and depression as well as a suspected eating disorder. “I began drinking more than I should have. I just wanted to get out of the house, I would go anywhere just to get away,” she added.
Brightwood said that not just she, but her mother has also been severely affected by the whole incident. After Lewis was asked to leave their family home and he lost his job, the mother-daughter duo suffered a lot financially too. The Crown's counsel Mr Gow told the judge that Michelle “went into complete shock”, before adding, “She has seen her daughter go from child to adult overnight. All she wanted for her was security but the defendant has taken that away from her.” After Lewis was sentenced, his stepdaughter said, “The sentence wasn't what I wanted but we have to go with it. 'It's a shame but I'm just glad it's over with.” Brightwood also noted that she wanted others to know about her stepdad’s criminal activities and the jail time he is serving for that.