A man considered a ‘sex pest’ has been banned from having a girlfriend without telling social workers.

Andrew Thomas, 49, was caught recording his 65-year-old neighbour changing in her bedroom with an iPhone stuck to a vase of artificial flowers at her home near Pitlochry, Scotland.

He is said to have befriended the victim and set up a camera phone in artificial flowers in her bedroom, filming her changing over several months.

The 49-year-old’s sick actions were caught when the horrified victim discovered the device while rearranging her artificial flowers.

Its memory was found to hold more than 40 hours of intimate recordings of her in varying states of undress and he was later caught sneaking around inside the property by the woman’s daughter and her partner.

Thomas confessed what he had done and admitted having romantic feelings for his victim, Daily Record reported.

Sheriff Alison McKay placed Thomas on the Sëx Offenders Register for five years and ordered him to carry out 300 hours unpaid work in the community.

The victim was in the process of rearranging artificial flowers in a vase at the foot of her bed.

She became aware of an object within the vase, which had a camera lens pointing in the general direction of her bed.

Upon further investigation, tlmobile phone was found attached to the inside of the vase, connected to a power bank also inside the vase.

It could be seen from the screen a video recording was taking place. It appeared to have been running for a period of 40 hours and 45 minutes.

When she looked at the photo gallery, she found 34 files of some.intimate images of her mother in various stages of undress and also while naked.

Sheriff nevertheless imposed a 12-clause conduct order which includes restricting his phone and internet use, a ban on approaching his victim, and restrictions on any new friendships or relationships.