Doctor Lam Hoe Yeoh admits secretly filming patients

A doctor has pleaded guilty to secretly filming hundreds of patients, colleagues and hospital visitors.

Dr Lam Hoe Yeoh, a world-renowned hearing consultant, admitted seven counts of voyeurism, six charges of making indecent images of a child and one of possessing extreme pornography.

The 61-year-old from Banstead, Surrey, was arrested in April at the privately run St Anthony's Hospital, North Cheam.

Croydon Crown Court heard he captured more than 1,000 people on film.

Recorder Warwick McKinnon warned Yeoh to expect a jail term when he is sentenced on Wednesday.

He said: "A custodial sentence has to be passed in this case.

"It must be obvious that a serious and significant (sentence) must be considered. It is not a sentence I can deliver nor anyone can deliver on the hoof."

Peter Clement, prosecuting, said: "The [voyeurism] offending was vast and beyond any previously investigated by the Met.

"His intention was sinister, indecent and criminal."

The voyeurism charges, which included a handful of identifiable victims, related to a period between 1 January 2011 and 15 April this year.

He used pen drives and watches to film at numerous locations across the country, including the Portland Hospital in central London, medical facilities in Exeter, Sutton, south London and Thames Ditton in Surrey.

Yeoh also captured clips in toilets at a clinic in Nottingham, on trains and at his own home during a social event.

Mr Clement said the consultant's crimes were discovered after he left a "covert video recording device" in a toilet block at St Anthony's Hospital near a desk where two women were working.

He added: "The device fell from the position when it was recovered by one of the two ladies.

"Examination that day showed the device had captured and recorded one of those ladies using the lavatory.

"But he had inadvertently filmed himself securing that device."

The court was told several children aged between three and 14 featured in Yeoh's footage and the consultant made indecent images featuring six different children.

Mr Clement said he used "graphic descriptions", including dates and names, to label the footage found on his computer.

When he was arrested, Yeoh had a USB hanging round his neck which contained footage labelled "Cardiff Train Teenager", the court heard.

During a police interview, Yeoh asked officers: "Will I go to jail? I cannot tell my family."

Sally O'Neill QC, defending, said the defendant always had a "collecting obsession" and following a stay in hospital for a month in 1984 his personality changed.

Yeoh learnt about voyeurism from the internet and he felt a "a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders" when his crimes were discovered, Ms O'Neill said.

"The depth of shame he feels about his conduct over those three years really can not be expressed," she added.

His wife, Ivy Muihong Sng, 57, also of Garratts Lane, Banstead, had one count of voyeurism against her dropped.