A NEWTOWN man set up a camera in a changing room to secretly record over 150 videos for sexual gratification, with at least one of the victims being under 18, a court heard.

Gregory Hanson, 25, of Orchid Walk, was also found to be in possession of 37,500 incident images of children, Welshpool Magistrates’ Court heard on Tuesday.

He admitted to the six voyeurism charges and three incident images charges.

Helen Tench, prosecuting, said that the images were found during a visit to the registered sex offender’s home on June 10.

Shirtless photos were found on his computer desktop, which Hanson “acted surprised” about and said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know that was there,” Ms Tench told the court.

He pulled out a USB stick from his computer and said: “I’ll take this, and I promise I’ll delete everything on it,” magistrates heard.

Ms Tench said the defendant was upset and was sulking a lot. He said: “No no no. I’m done, I’m so done.”

The prosecution said that in total he had 37,500 indecent still and moving images of children in his possession. Ms Tench told the court that 1,083 were “extreme” and that 1,700 did not reach the standard to prosecute because of the quality and resolution of the images.

Hanson’s voyeurism charges, for recording a private act to which the victims did not consent, run from as early as March 2016 to May 2019.

Ms Tench said that there were 155 videos and 680 images.

Magistrates heard that they were taken on a mobile phone, which was hidden in a locker in the changing room.

In a police interview Hanson said that he had taken the recordings for the “purposes of sexual gratification”.

Paul Inns, defending, said that he did not wish to use up the court’s time if it did not feel it had the necessary sentencing powers.

Stephen Pembroke, chair of the bench, said that factors including the number of images, meant that it needed to be sent to crown court.

Hanson will appear for sentencing at Mold Crown Court on Tuesday, September 3.

He is on unconditional bail.