Police investigating the case of Terence Pittman who broke into a Borehamwood school and secretly filmed girls undressing has been held up as an example of "excellent" teamwork between detectives, the education authority and schools.

Pittman, 34, was jailed last week for ten years for a string of burglaries and arsons at schools in Hertfordshire, including Hawksmoor School in Cowley Hill.

A joint investigation by Hertfordshire and Metropolitan police uncovered Pittman's covert activities at "tens" of schools, including two in St Albans and Ware, where he also went to extraordinary lengths to secretly install video systems to film girls undressing in changing rooms.

After the sentence hearing at St Albans Crown Court last week, Det Insp Dick Mann of Hertfordshire police, who led the investigation, stressed that none of the recovered videos taken at the schools contained any images of full nudity.

He was also keen to reassure parents that Pittman, an odd-job man, was not part of a paedophile ring, but had been working on his own.

When police raided his home in Watford they had found hundreds of photographs and videos, some of children at sports' days or dancing activities stolen from schools.

Pittman told police the focus of his offending was his fetish for ladies' underwear and watching young women undress.

DI Mann said: "Our investigations have shown that Pittmann operated on his own. We have liaised with other forces and specialist squads, and there is no evidence to suggest that any of the material has been seen or used by anyone other than him.

"Although this is obviously a distressing set of circumstances, I would like to make it clear that none of the videos or photographs showed images of anyone fully undressed.

"We are also confident that all the material has been recovered. We monitored Pittman's movements from the day he was identified as a suspect, and following his arrest shortly afterwards he was remanded in custody."

Police said Pittman would have spent thousands of pounds to fund his elaborate pastime for filming young girls -- more than £200 for each sophisticated miniature camera installed at the schools and hundreds of pounds to pay for travelling expenses around the county.

Police traced the video equipment discovered at the schools back to Pittman through the serial numbers, which led to his arrest last year in June.

The judge sentencing Pittman said that current laws made him powerless to order confiscation of videos and photographs and cameras used by Pittman, which has outraged the head teacher and pupils involved in the case at Hawksmoor School.

Hertsmere MP James Clappison, who feels the charges brought against Pittman were not a true reflection of his crimes, is mounting a campaign to tighten up laws.

He also wants to see the law extended to allow the confiscation of video and photographic material taken of children in such circumstances.

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