A former Labour Party secretary who secretly filmed men urinating in shopping centre toilets has avoided jail - despite pretending to jet off to Turkey to skip his sentencing hearing.
David Christison, a candidate for Waddon in the last council elections, wrote to Croydon Magistrates' Court claiming to be on holiday when he was due to face justice for videoing and photographing men in Centrale shopping centre for sexual pleasure.
The 44-year-old, of Dunheved Road South, Thornton Heath, pleaded guilty to two counts of observing a person doing a private act in February.
A judge issued an arrest warrant for Christison in Thursday's sentencing hearing, the third he had missed since admitting the offences, after dismissing his excuse as inadequate.
But Christison, who covertly filmed men urinating on at least 30 occasions, handed himself in to court after it emerged he was at home in Thornton Heath instead of in the popular resort of Alanya, as he had claimed.
He had even posted photographs of Alanya's sun-drenched beaches and harbour on Facebook the day before the hearing as part of the ruse.
Christison could have been jailed for six months or fined up to £5,000 for his crimes.
But magistrates who sentenced him after he turned up at court on Friday opted instead to impose a curfew that mean Christison must remain at home between 8pm and 6am until July 18.
Christison posted snaps of his supposed holiday on Facebook
He was also ordered to pay a £60 victim surcharge and £85 legal costs, will attend supervision meetings with a probation officer for a year and will be listed on the police's sexual offenders register for five years.
Christison was removed from his position as Labour ward secretary for West Thornton and suspended from the party in March after pleading guilty to the offences.
He was arrested in April 2013 after a member of the public reported him behaving suspiciously to a Centrale security guard.
Staff called the police, who inspected Christison's mobile phone and found a video of a man urinating in a urinal.
Officers who searched Christison's home found laptops with 29 similar videos dating back to 2011.
He will return to Croydon Magistrates' Court on March 20 for sentencing and was granted bail on the condition he does not use Centrale's public toilets.
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