A man from Wigan has been jailed for 14 months, after hacking into hundreds of webcams so he could spy on women undressing and having sex. Christopher Taylor, 60, tricked 722 people into allowing him to take control of their webcams so he could monitor their private lives. The dad-of-three was able to watch on as his victims studied, practiced yoga and even had sex with their partners.

He amassed 80,000 images and videos in a six year period between 2010 and 2016, which he used for his own “sexual gratification”, Bolton Crown Court was told.

Additionally, police uncovered 82 photos of bestiality, as well as a video of a woman having sex with a dog.

The 60-year-old defendant placed false links on porn sites, which allowed him to take control of his victims’ laptops when they clicked on it.

Taylor was eventually rumbled by agents from America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), after they received a tip off from the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States.

Staff at the institute approached the FBI, after Taylor’s malware was discovered on the laptop of a student working in the university’s aerospace laboratory.

Following an investigation, detectives eventually raided his Wigan home on Vicarage Road, Abram.

Charges were only brought against him at the end of last year, nearly seven years after the initial investigation.

US law enforcement officials wanted to extradite Taylor to face trail for wire and computer fraud.

However their request was turned down by a London Court, which ruled such a move would “negatively impact” Taylor’s wife, whom he helps to look after.

Neil Fryman, prosecuting, said: “Many of these images and videos captured people eating, working, lying in bed and doing yoga.

“However, there were also a number of images that showed people in various stages of undress and involved in sexual activity.”

Taylor had previously pleaded guilty to securing unauthorised access to computer material and voyeurism, as well as possession of extreme pornography.

Judge Martin Walsh said he had considered giving Taylor a suspended sentence on account of his wife’s condition.

However, he concluded that the gravity of the offences merited a period of incarceration.

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The judge said: “The offences involved a gross invasion into the privacy of very many individuals.

“The offending took place over a lengthy period of time and was undertaken following a significant degree of sophisticated planning and preparation.

“Victims were vulnerable in the sense that they were targeted within their own homes. Images were recorded and retained by you.”

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