Pervert hacked iCloud accounts for sexual photos and filmed children on secret cameras

A man who hacked into 12 women's personal iCloud accounts to steal their private sexual photos before sharing them online, has been jailed.

Tony Spencer also set up secret recording equipment at a leisure centre changing rooms where he filmed young children and women getting changed.

Specialist officers discovered the extent of the 38-year-old pervert's crimes and during searches at his home in Eye, Suffolk, where they found computer equipment containing the victims’ pictures, as well as software used to access the accounts.

Twelve victims were discovered following the raid in 2017 and they were all informed by police.

On his computer equipment were also secret recordings made at the leisure centre.

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

Police were able to identify seven victims from these crimes and informed them of what had happened.

Spencer was arrested and later charged nine counts of voyeurism, five counts of taking an indecent photographs of a child and 12 counts of the Computer Misuse Act (hacking) offences.

He admitted the charges and was sentenced to 32 months in prison at Basildon Crown Court, Essex, on Thursday and was put on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life and given a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.

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.

"Spencer was not able to access any accounts secured with 2FA as he would have needed the mobile phone of the victims at the same time.

"People who commit crime online wrongly believe that we will not investigate these offences.

"The Cyber Crime unit is dedicated to investigating serious online crime and if you commit crime online, we will investigate you and bring you to justice.“

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 a victim from Grays reported her iCloud account being hacked and her personal intimate pictures posted online.

Two other offenders have already been convicted for iCloud hacking.

Craig Steinberg, 33, of Sunderland, was jailed in March 2018 for 34 months for 14 counts of Computer Misuse Act offences.

Dominik James, 33, of Stevenage, Herts, was locked up for eight months for five counts of Computer Misuse Act offences.

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