A Peeping Tom policeman who planted a covert camera at a woman neighbour s home won a cut in his manifestly excessive jail term at the Court of Appeal yesterday (Wednesday). Calvin McCann, of Henlow, was convicted of voyeurism at St Albans Crown Court o

A Peeping Tom policeman who planted a covert camera at a woman neighbour's home won a cut in his "manifestly excessive" jail term at the Court of Appeal yesterday (Wednesday).

Calvin McCann, of Henlow, was convicted of voyeurism at St Albans Crown Court on February 24. He was jailed for six months.

But yesterday judges accepted that the "clang of the prison gates" had been punishment enough for McCann, who resigned from the force shortly before his trial.

Mr Justice Gross, sitting with Mr Justice Mackay, cut 28-year-old McCann's sentence to three months, meaning he will be freed almost immediately.

The court heard that McCann brought a camera disguised as a mobile phone over the internet for £23 and hid it in his victim's bathroom in a toilet roll tube hidden between two tins of paint.

She discovered it after she had finished redecorating, and immediately called police.

McCann admitted buying a similar device, but denied he had planted it at the woman's house.

However Mr Justice Gross said that, shortly after the woman found the camera, married McCann called at her house and asked to use the bathroom and also told her he had lost his mobile phone.

The judge said the camera could beam pictures back to McCann's television set, although there was no evidence he had stored photos - or even looked at them.

He added that the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had felt violated by what had happened. The judges rejected arguments that McCann should have been spared prison, Mr Justice Gross observing that custody was "unavoidable".