Police praise women for helping put toilet voyeur behind bars

Police have thanked the victims of a voyeur jailed for recording women in toilet cubicles for his own sexual gratification; and urged other victims of sexual offences to come forward.

Pawanjit Singh, also known as Robbie, sneaked into female toilets and hid in cubicles before using his phone to secretly record victims as they used the toilet next to him.

He captured 26 clips and six images of numerous women in several different North East pubs in September 2020.

In May 2021, the 35 year-old was caught by a woman as he recorded her in the female toilets at Washington Services. The woman confronted him, then contacted police.

Officers got hold of Singh’s mobile phone and, after searching through it, uncovered the voyeuristic content.

Singh was charged with 27 offences of voyeurism and appeared at South Tyneside Magistrates court in April where he pleaded guilty to all counts.

At Newcastle Crown Court Singh was sentenced to one year in prison, put on the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years, given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and ordered to have his devices destroyed.

After the sentencing, Detective Constable Kate Bain of Northumbria Police said: “We would like to thank the woman who turned out to be Singh’s last victim after she witnessed and challenged his offending; meaning the scale of his depravity was uncovered.

“Singh secretly filmed women in what should have been a totally private space, without their knowledge or consent. He showed no respect for these women whatsoever and saw them only as tools for his own sexual gratification.

“We are committed to ensuring sexual offenders in our community are identified, arrested, and brought to justice.

“We have trained teams of officers who are experts at pursuing suspects of any form of sexual abuse and ensuring their depravity does not go unpunished. They’ll be there for you throughout every stage of the investigation and will offer you whatever support you need.

“We would always encourage anybody who is a victim of crime, or who has any information about this type of offending, to come forward and report it to us so we can act for you."

Anyone who has been subjected to any form of sexual offence can use the Report page of the Northumbria Police website, or call 101.