A police officer accused of trying to film a woman in the shower has told a jury he was using his mobile phone as an extension of his eyes to find his razor.

Metropolitan Police Det Serg Benjamin McNish, 30, is on trial at Southwark Crown Court, where he denies voyeurism on the morning of February 18 2019.

The alleged victim earlier told how she felt “confused and shocked” after twice seeing a mobile phone while she was naked in the shower and found McNish standing outside.

But giving evidence on Tuesday, married father-of-two McNish said his “sole intention” had been to find his razor after forgetting to shave ahead of a work drinks function.

McNish, who was promoted to sergeant within three years of joining the force in 2015, said he first tried, but failed, to look through the glass panel of the bathroom door.

“I decided that I might be able to use my phone as an extension of my eyes to see if I could see my razor,” said the officer, who has a degree in Chinese and Spanish and speaks seven languages.

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McNish, who is from Benfleet, held the mobile phone in an evidence bag in both hands with arms stretched to show jurors, and explained: “I was trying to look but I was not able to get the angle so I then took a step back to see if it would make a difference.”

He added: “My sole intention was to try and see the razor to locate it.”

The court heard McNish was diagnosed with dyspraxia weeks after his arrest in March 2019 and he told the jury: “I think it made me have tunnel vision.”

He said he had only seen a “tiny bit of ceiling” but “inadvertently took a photo of the outside of the bathroom door”, as he heard the woman burst out of the shower.

“I expected the bathroom door to open. I stepped back towards the living room and that’s when the penny dropped.

“I knew exactly how this would look, being stood outside the bathroom with a phone in my hand while (the complainant) had been using the bathroom.”

McNish said he deleted the “accidental” photo in front of the woman after she accused him of taking pictures of her in the shower.

Prosecutor William Eaglestone suggested the officer’s dyspraxia and his explanation about the razor were a “smokescreen”.

He said: “When you stuck your phone into that window pane, when you pointed it towards the bath, you were looking at a naked woman, weren’t you?”

McNish replied: “That’s incorrect.”

  • The trial continues.