Teacher who thought wife was having affair faces jail for spying on her

A teacher is facing jail for spying on his wife when he wrongly believed she was having an affair.

Sneaky Gavin Bowditch, 37, was convinced partner Helen was seeing someone else and turned to surveillance to find proof.

He attached a tracking device to her car and concealed a secret video camera under the couple’s TV.

Bowditch, a supply teacher, also accessed her emails in a desperate attempt to uncover her supposed cheating.

He even sent Facebook messages purporting to be from his vet wife to the love rival he believed she was seeing, a court was told.

But his “devious and concerted” covert operation was foiled by Mrs Bowditch who confronted her husband before reporting the alleged stalking to police.

Mr Bowditch, from Fiddington, Somerset, admitted the offences but denied they amounted to stalking which had caused serious alarm or distress.

The teacher, who worked at The Castle School in Taunton, Somerset, was found guilty following a trial at Taunton Magistrates Court.

He faces “immediate custody” when he is sentenced at a later date.

District Judge David Taylor said: “The case requires that the prosecution made me sure that there is a course of conduct that amounts to stalking in particular that causes Mrs Bowditch serious alarm and distress which has had a substantial effect on her usual day to day activities.”

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Mr Bowditch and his wife had been married for seven years and until March this year had both lived together.

On March 24 Mrs Bowditch reported to police that in January 2017, her husband had been concealing a video camera underneath the TV at their home.

And in February 2017 Mr Bowditch gained access to her email and Facebook account under the pretence of posing as his wife and changed the emergency contact number to his.

He even rigged a GPS tracking device in her car in March 2017 to track her movements which had been fitted during the dead of night and was active for ten days, a court heard.

His wife only found out by accident that the tracking device had been attached to her car following an examination of her vehicle by police.

Mrs Bowditch claimed her husband’s actions has left her feeling constantly tired, led to her making mistakes in her job as a veterinary nurse and caused her anxiety, panic attacks and loss of appetite.

She has moved house to a secret location, insists the gates are locked at her place of work, stopped using Facebook and phone, changed her route to work and is getting divorced.

She said she was angry when she discovered her husband had messaged a male friend pretending to be her as he wrongly believed they were having an affair.

When quizzed by police, Mr Bowditch said he had suffered a number of medical problems last year leading to him suffering from paranoia.

Mr Bowditch agreed that his behaviour was “not acceptable and not justifiable” and said any normal person would think he was “a lunatic”.

Mrs Bowditch conceded she had given her husband non-secure access to her social media account, letting her have an old mobile phone.

Mrs Bowdtich also admitted that she did not “fear physical harm” and was initially reluctant to contact police.