A HOTEL manager set up a secret camera in a bedroom to watch a couple having sex, a court was told yesterday.

Clarence Birkbeck, who admitted to having a "healthy fascination"

with sex, denied committing voyeurism at the Castle Court guesthouse, in Newcomen Terrace, Redcar, last year.

The 67-year-old, who runs the hotel with his long-term partner, Caroline Tait, admitted placing the camera in one of the bedrooms and said he now realised it was foolish, but claimed it was only to see if a couple were taking drugs - not to watch them engage in sexual activity.

But the prosecution at Guisborough Magistrates' Court alleged that Birkbeck deliberately set up the camera to focus on the four-poster bed, to spy on the couple's activities.

The court was told that the couple, who had stayed in the same room the previous week, rang to book a room on the morning of November 30 for two nights.

But, after spending one night there, the woman was horrified to discover a surveillance device screwed to the wall in the gap between two wardrobes.

Anne Mitchell, prosecuting, told the court the camera was found switched on and had black tape covering the LED light.

She said a TV unit was in Birkbeck's bedroom, situated directly below the room in question.

While giving evidence, the woman - who cannot be named for legal reasons - repeatedly broke down when asked to give details of her relationship with her boyfriend, and their activities at the hotel.

She said: "The room had a fourposter bed, which was bolted to the wall, which we found strange.

"Early in the evening we had a bit of an argument - raised voices - but that was it, and we made up.

"The next morning, I was sitting on the edge of the bed and I noticed a black object. I said for a joke there is a camera over there'.

"He moved the wardrobe and we realised it was a camera. It was pointing at the four-poster bed. I was destroyed."

The boyfriend told the court: "There was lots of intimate activity that night. I walked past the camera several times that night naked. We expected complete privacy. We didn't expect anything like this."

The police arrived that evening and were shown the camera by the couple. After talking to Birkbeck, they were taken to his bedroom to watch the live link to the room in question.

Sergeant Paul McDonald, of Cleveland Police, said: "He initially denied any knowledge of it.

He then said he would show us where the equipment was.

"He switched it on, and from what I could see, it appeared to be the same room. The picture was very clear and I could see 90 per cent of the bed, but I could not say if the wardrobe was in its original position."

Police seized "quite an extensive collection" of pornographic DVDs and sex toys during the search of the guesthouse.

However, there was no evidence to suggest Birkbeck had recorded activities in the room.

Birkbeck said he watched only ten minutes of the live link because he said he heard the couple say something he believed indicated they were smoking marijuana.

He said he did not tell Miss Tait, who was unaware of the camera, because he did not feel she needed to know about his suspicions.

He then spent the evening watching TV with her and a friend, Alan Carr, who helped run another of Birkbeck's guesthouses.

Birkbeck told the court that he did not see the couple having sex.

No drugs were found in the room, and the couple are not suspected of taking any illegal substances.

Birkbeck, who has guesthouses across the Redcar area, said he found a security camera in a box in the guesthouse, which he had bought ten years ago. He then decided to place it in the room.

He said the bed could not be seen by the camera, but said anyone walking past would have been in view.

He said: "The previous weekend, when they booked the room, there was banging and scraping noises coming from the room.

"I decided to fit the camera to find out what was causing the noises. It was placed there (between the wardrobes) as it could be hidden there.

"I have always had a tough stance on drugs. It has been a big problem for us over the years. We have always had a good reputation as a hotel and we try to keep it that way.

"I did place a camera in the room and it was a very foolish thing to do, and I sincerely apologise to the couple."

The trial continues.