'Every time I took a shower I thought: is he watching me?' The terrifying rise of secret cameras

Anyone can buy a tiny camera and hide it in a mirror, smoke alarm or toilet. As cases of voyeurism against women soar in the UK, victims say it's too easy for men to get away with it

- Anna Moore

The first time Heidi Marney took a bath in her new, temporary home, she felt she was being watched.

"I had this overwhelming sense that there were eyes on me," she says. She remembers scanning the room. "It was a big, double bath and above, on the wall, there was a TV with a device hanging down with a flashing red light." Marney sent a photo of it to a friend who assured her that it was a dongle and said he had one too so that he could get Sky in every room.

"Logic told me that, if someone was filming me, there'd be a camera in my bedroom," Marney continues, "so I went to my room and looked everywhere - the wardrobe, the lights; I was meticulous. There was nothing, so I told myself I was being ridiculous. My landlord was the kindest human you could ever meet. He would never do that." She pauses, then sighs. "I'll never ever ignore my instincts again." This happened in December 2019, when Marney had moved into Robert Holden's rural home, a former farmhouse in Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire. Marney had known Holden for a decade - he was her half-sister's uncle, so she had long viewed him as a family member.