Stalker filmed his ex-wife on spycam clock in her bedroom
Husband’s ploy revealed by wi-fi link
A JEALOUS husband stalked his wife for more than four years over suspicions that she was having a secret affair with his business partner.
Scott Ennis, 50, even gave unwitting wife Louisa a spycam alarm clock as a Valentine’s Day gift so he could monitor her movements.
Ennis secretly filmed her in the bedroom, recorded her work conversations with a hidden microphone and told a member of his staff to spy on her.
Mrs Ennis had no idea what was going on until she spotted a mystery device on her wi-fi router and discovered it was her husband’s spy camera.
She realised live footage of their bedroom was being streamed from the bedside digital alarm clock.
Ennis was also using mobile phone technology to covertly track his wife’s movements and paid a Chinese firm £600 for access to her phone records.
Ennis repeatedly sent one of his employees to follow his wife and take photos and videos of her without her knowledge, Perth Sheriff Court heard yesterday.
The court was told that Ennis, who had financial difficulties with his used car business Roundal Group, had suspected she was cheating on him with his partner David Welsh.
Fiscal depute Gail Russell told the court the marriage was failing and that Mrs Ennis did start a new relationship with Mr Welsh in 2019, after leaving her husband.
She said employee Adam Horton had admitted the part he had played in the spying campaign because he was ashamed of what he had agreed to do for Ennis.
Ennis, from Auchterarder, Perthshire, admitted engaging in a course of conduct which caused fear and alarm in various locations across Perth and Kinross between January 2015 and August 2019.
He admitted installing a covert camera and a microphone recording device to watch and listen to his wife’s movements and conversations without her knowledge.
He admitted tracking her using iPhone technology, moving items in her garden, and getting an employee to walk past her home to record her with Mr Welsh.
Mrs Russell told the court: ‘He was the owner of Roundal Car Dealership in Tullibardine [Perthshire]. He had struggled with money at some point. She was employed as a bookkeeper with Roundal. David Welsh was also employed there.
‘Louisa Ennis and the accused started their relationship in 2005 and were married in 2009. They have two children together.
‘She decided the marriage was over in 2017 and asked him to leave in 2018. They were still together and sharing a bedroom when he gave her a digital alarm clock as a gift. He set it up and positioned it facing the bed. It stayed there until she moved out.
‘In May 2018, she moved with the children. He again set up the digital clock in the bedroom.
‘She accessed the router and saw a device she didn’t recognise. This took her to a live feed from the digital clock... It was a livestream of the bed. She had a WhatsApp conversation with the accused and confronted him.’
She said Mr Welsh spotted the box for the clock in the office and quit his job, while Mrs Ennis then noticed bins had been moved in her garden. Checks showed Ennis was parked nearby. He also drove behind his wife, who was by then working in a bakery, on a quiet country road near her home.
The court heard how he pressed Mr Horton into the surveillance.
Mrs Russell said he repeatedly asked him to spy on her and over several months Ennis gave Mr Horton a phone number and asked to check activity on WhatsApp.
Mr Horton eventually contacted Mr Welsh because he felt so guilty, and that led to the discovery of a microphone device under the desk where Mrs Ennis had worked.
Ennis requested a phone hack on his wife and unwittingly captured himself on video fitting the microphone under his wife’s work desk in January 2017.
The first bedside filming took place at their shared home in Auchterarder in 2015.
Mrs Russell said it was accepted the use of recording equipment was borne of jealousy and suspicion ‘as opposed to being sexually motivated or voyeuristic’.
When he was quizzed by officers, Ennis said: ‘I believed my wife to be cheating on me with my exbusiness partner.’
Sheriff William Wood told Ennis: ‘Your conduct has been despicable.’ Sentence was deferred but Ennis was told to make preparations for a prison term.
‘He positioned it facing the bed’