A MARRIED police sergeant who used his iPhone to spy on a woman in the shower has been spared jail.

Benjamin McNish, 30, from Benfleet, was convicted of voyeurism following a trial at Southwark Crown Court last month.

The victim, who cannot be identified, said she felt “confused and shocked” after catching the Metropolitan Police officer trying to take pictures of her naked on the morning of February 18 2019.

McNish, a detective sergeant, who is suspended from the force pending misconduct proceedings, claimed he had been using the device as an “extension of my eyes” to find his razor after forgetting to shave ahead of a work drinks function.

Yesterday, he was handed a 20-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, and will be on the sex offenders register for seven years, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

McNish was also ordered to complete a sexual offenders’ programme, attend rehabilitation and pay £750 in costs.

The father-of-two has a degree in Chinese and Spanish, speaks seven languages and was promoted to sergeant just three years after joining the Met.

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He had been involved in reorganising the Met’s child abuse unit and was due to start a new role in the force’s rape and sex offences investigations squad at the time of the incident.

Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) senior specialist prosecutor Andrew Levin said: “Benjamin McNish was a serving policeman who observed a woman showering without her consent for his own sexual gratification.

“This was a private act that McNish had no right to observe. He violated the victim’s privacy by spying on her in a bathroom.

"His actions were clearly illegal and wholly unacceptable.

“During the trial, McNish claimed that he had just been using his phone to look for his razor by the sink, but the prosecution was able to prove to the jury that this was an absurd lie.

“The CPS will always aim to prosecute those who commit criminal acts, regardless of who they are, where there is the evidence to do so.”

McNish had been involved in reorganising the Met’s child abuse unit and was due to start a new role in the force’s rape and sex offences investigations squad at the time of the incident.