Court

The offences were comitted at a property at Monea on a number of occasions over a six-month period, Fermanagh Magistrates Court has heard.

According to the Impartial Reporter, David Camblin (52), of The Mount, Tandragee, pleaded guilty to three counts of damaging a door and floor on dates between February 1 and August 12, 2016.

The court heard that, on August 15 last year, the injured party informed police that he was getting work done at the home of his late mother at Dairies Road, Monea.

The man told police that his suspicions were raised after observing a “puddle” on the floor just inside the front door of the house.

Suspecting that somebody may have been urinating, the injured party had installed a CCTV camera to identify the culprit.

He told officers that, on August 9, 2016, he had once again found urine in the hall.

Checking the CCTV footage, he saw a Parcel Force van pulling up outside the house at around 1pm. A male got out of the vehicle and then walked around the property.

The man in the footage appeared to perform a sex act through the letterbox. The incident lasted a few minutes, before the man got back into the van and drove off.

Meanwhile, on August 12, a similar incident occurred. However, on this occasion, the man noticed the camera as he was carrying out the sex act.

He walked out of sight of the camera, which was then moved away from filming the front door and on to a wall instead.

The injured party passed on the CCTV footage to the police. Officers then contacted the defendant through Parcel Force.

On August 23, Camblin was interviewed and admitted that he was the man in the CCTV footage. He denied urinating, but admitted masturbating.

Describing the act as “spontaneous”, he could offer no other explanation.

Defending solicitor, Rory Gillen, told the court that his client had worked for Parcel Force for 21 years and had never had any issues with the police before this incident.

Admitting that it was a “bizarre” case that fell outside sentencing guidelines, the solicitor said that Camblin had been married for 17 years.

Mr Gillen confirmed that the defendant had initially been suspended from work and later resigned. He is currently being supported financially by his wife.

The solicitor said that Camblin couldn’t really explain what had happened, but suggested that work-related stress may have been a “contributing factor”.

Referring to a pre-sentence report, Mr Gillen said that the defendant had been classed as posing a medium likelihood of re-offending, at the lowest end of the scale.

Deputy district judge, Philip Mateer, observed that the defendant was entitled to credit for entering guilty pleas, but told the court that the chances of him contesting the charges had been “remote”, given the CCTV evidence.

The judge said that, in the pre-sentence report, it was quite clear that Camblin had expressed “enormous shame and regret” for his behaviour, before adding that the probation service had tried to find out why he would act in such a “bizarre and distasteful fashion”.

Describing the set of circumstances as “simply inexplicable”, Mr Mateer noted that it was not a one-off, rather a “repeat gratification”.