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A pervert who filmed a woman getting changed at a city swimming pool has been banned from all leisure centres across Merseyside and Cheshire.

Christopher Andrew John Shannon, previously of The Knoll, Runcorn, used his mobile phone to point it underneath the partition to the next cubicle and record at the council-run Lifestyles Sports Centre in Garston.

But the victim, 40, who was with her 19-year-old daughter, spotted the device and shouted: "Who's that?" which caused the person holding the phone, at 9.10pm on January 8, to withdraw it quickly.

The woman covered herself up and went to the next cubicle and banged on the door, North Liverpool Community Justice Centre was told.

Eventually, Shannon, 27, opened the door.

The victim noticed that he still had his phone in his hand.

She asked him why he’d been filming her and demanded he gave her his phone.

Shannon, of Queen's Drive in West Derby, said he was sorry, adding: "I didn't mean to!"

He tried to claim his phone had dropped on the floor of the next cubicle, but the woman pointed out it had been held in his hand, at an angle, above the level of the floor, with the camera pointing at her.

The victim’s daughter had by this time come over to see what was happening and said to Shannon, “if you haven’t done anything, show us your phone.”

But Shannon just replied: “I didn’t mean it”.

He then ran off to the side of the pool and they noticed that he appeared to be trying to delete what was on the phone.

The mum and daughter, along with the pool attendants, eventually caught up with him and the police were called.

Last week, Shannon avoided jail after admitting a charge of voyeurism, recording a private act, and was handed a community order.

A Sexual Harm Prevention Order was imposed meaning he must not enter any public baths, leisure centre or gym in Cheshire or Merseyside for the next five years.

Shannon also has to make any mobile phone or tablet available for inspection on request from a police officer.

He also must not delete any photographs or video from the memory of such a device and must pay £175 court costs.

Angela Conlan, of Mersey Cheshire Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This was a shocking act that really distressed the victim.

“Shannon invaded the privacy of a person he didn’t know and recorded her, without her being aware what was going on at all.

“This is a criminal offence and nobody should be subjected to this type of behaviour.

"The victim and her daughter were really distressed by what happened.

“I would like to thank them for their help, despite the distress, in helping us bring this prosecution.”