A POLICEMAN spied on his woman neighbour with a miniature camera he bought off eBay, a jury was told. Pc Calvin McCann, 28, was a modern day Peeping Tom who installed the camera in the woman s bathroom to gain sexual gratification, it was alleged. The w

A POLICEMAN spied on his woman neighbour with a miniature camera he bought off eBay, a jury was told.

Pc Calvin McCann, 28, was a "modern day Peeping Tom" who installed the camera in the woman's bathroom to gain sexual gratification, it was alleged.

The woman told a jury at St Albans Crown Court that she was decorating her bathroom when she found a toilet roll tube on the floor next to tins of paint.

She said: "It was on its side lying parallel to the bath panel. I picked it up and ripped open the tube. I thought it was a mobile phone.

"It was open at one end - the other end had toilet paper stuffed at the bottom and there was Sellotape holding it in. I suppose it was there to stop the camera falling out."

She said the toilet paper that had been used to stop the camera falling out was peach in colour, whereas she only used white toilet paper.

The camera itself had an antenna that was level with the end of the tube, she said.

The woman said she showed her boyfriend and then later handed the device into Greyfriars police station in Bedford.

The jury heard that McCann, a serving officer based at Luton, and his wife Becky were friends with the woman and her boyfriend.

On New Year's Eve 2004 the woman said she, her boyfriend and Becky went back to her home.

She said: "Calvin came back 10 minutes later. He went up and used the toilet."

After the camera had been found, she said she was visited by McCann who asked her if he had left his mobile phone in the bathroom.

Prosecutor Charles Ingham likened McCann to a Peeping Tom.

He said: "There is a strong circumstantial case in which all the evidence points to Mr McCann putting the camera in her bathroom."

He said experts examining the camera found it had a range of 50 metres with pictures picked up via a cable which would be attached to a television set.

On Wednesday the jury of four women and seven men was given a demonstration of how the camera worked by Dc Chris Beresford. A camera similar to the one discovered in the victim's home was placed in a toilet roll holder. Colour images of the courtroom were displayed on television sets.

The prosecutor said that the police contacted eBay and discovered McCann had paid £23 for a surveillance camera. His DNA was also allegedly found on the battery compartment.

McCann, of Henlow, denies voyeurism between November 9, 2004, and January 25 last year.

He told the court he bought the camera "for the purpose of a marital nature in the bedroom with my wife".

Asked by his defence barrister if he "fancied" the woman he is accused of spying on, he replied: "No."

After being arrested, Det Sgt Gary Miller asked him if he had ever slept or had sexual contact with the woman and McCann said "no" but added: "I suppose there would have been sexual innuendo with her."

Case proceeding.