A SOUTHAMPTON publican who filmed a teenage girl as she showered told a court he had been trying to video another woman instead.

Sean O’Gorman placed an alarm clock with a concealed camera on a bathroom shelf as part of his bid to covertly film.

However, three 20-minute films of the teenage girl showering were found on the 46-year-old’s laptop by police investigating other allegations, a court head.

Prosecutor Timothy Bradbury said officers first visited the defendant at his home on January 25, 2015 in relation to another investigation, which was not pursued by the CPS.

“That was in relation to an investigation concerning allegations made against him,” Mr Bradbury said.

“In the event, that did not result in the defendant being charged with any offences.”

However, films of the girl were discovered on computer equipment seized as part of the investigation.

O’Gorman, now of Winn Road in Southampton, admitted two counts of voyeurism on the basis that he had not intended to film the girl and had not realised the footage was on his laptop.

However, he accepted installing the camera with the intention of filming an older woman and acknowledged that there had been a risk of filming others instead.

He was formally found not guilty of five further counts relating to the possession of indecent images.

Fern Russell, mitigating, told Bournemouth Crown Court, the defendant should be sentenced on his basis of plea and there should be no “raised eyebrows”.

“He cannot maintain his position of hospitality manager,” Ms Russell said.

“He is acting as a bar manager at a place in Southampton. It will be a long road before he can resume the level he had before [the charges were brought].”

The defendant has no previous convictions.

Judge Jonathan Fuller QC sentenced O’Gorman, a pub landlord, to a three-year community order with a requirement to attend the Thames Valley Sex Offenders Programme, as well as 200 hours of unpaid work.

He will also be subject to a sexual harm prevention order.

Judge Fuller said the sentence was not to “diminish [victim’s] feelings of shame and violation”.

He added: “In my view the public interest is best served by this order, rather than a short consecutive prison sentence with no treatment to prevent further offending.”