Peeping Tom pensioner caught spying through windows of windmill

A respectable pensioner was caught red-handed peeping at guests though the windows at the exclusive Cley Windmill Bed and Breakfast in north Norfolk, a court heard. Raymond Newall, 67, from Town Yard, Cley, admitted three offences of attempted voyeurism between March 18 and 25 when he appeared before Norwich magistrates. The court heard that Newall had been seeking sexual gratification and hoped to see guests at the B&B and restaurant, near Holt, either naked or having sex, when he peered through the windows. But the court heard that, as there was no proof that he had actually seen anything through the windows, the charge he pleaded guilty to was attempted voyeurism.



The court heard that Newall placed a chair he picked up from the hotel patio in front of the ground floor rooms he spied through. Newall was given a three-year conditional discharge and must pay £1,130 in compensation to the guests affected – who said their stays had been ruined by his peeping – and the hotel owner, who lost trade because of the incidents. Prosecuting, Gwen Wallace said: “This is a somewhat unusual case and one you are not faced with every day. The offence is described as attempted voyeurism and the location on all three occasions was Cley Windmill.”

On the third occasion a PCSO who knew of the previous two offences caught Newall peeping through the window. Newall had picked up a chair from the patio and placed it in front of the ground floor window,” she added. The PCSO shouted at Newall and asked him what he was doing. He said ‘I’m looking through the windows’. Newall later told another officer that he was ‘curious about people coming and going’ at the mill.” Newall was arrested and said at the police station he wanted to observe people naked or engaged in sexual activity and his motivation was sexual gratification. Newall, who works at a bookshop in Cley, was known to the owner of the windmill.



For Newall, Kieran Dunphy said he had never been in trouble before and his partner was standing by him. He said Newall had already seen his GP and was seeking psychological assistance. He said: “It started off as him being nosey, but turned into something that he deeply regrets. He had no idea of the distress he was causing the guests or the proprietor and feels sorry and ashamed, and quite rightly embarrassed.” Chairman of the bench, Charles Meacock warned Newall that if he did anything similar again he would be facing custody.