Andrew Meldrum, who is from London, has been convicted for installing spyware onto the computers of three women and then using the women’s own webcams to spy on them.

Meldrum was found guilty on two counts of voyeurism and three counts of unauthorized access to a computer, and he faces sentencing in a little over a month on April 14.

The trouble for Meldrum started a few years ago, in November of 2012, when a 21-year old woman went to the police after she found out that her computer could be accessed remotely, and since Meldrum had recently “helped” her with it, she suspected him immediately.

She then told another friend who’d also been helped with computer issues by Meldrum, and it turned out she had spyware as well. That woman, who is 23, then told another friend about it, and she found the same software too.

“I hope that they can take some consolation in the guilty verdict that sends out a clear message to anyone that this type of intrusion into a person’s private life is not acceptable and the Metropolitan Police will support all victims and pursue all suspects,” said DC Nick Pailthorpe.

According to Peter Sommer, who is  an expert on digital forensics, the methods used by Meldrum were “relatively unsophisticated”, since the women knew him and had allowed him to use their computers. Unfortunately there are other methods that can be used as well.

“Most of the time people would send a trojan to somebody, and the software would covertly switch the webcam on,” Sommer said. He also remarked that it was very easy to get a hold of the kind of software than can be used to spy on people.

[via Ars Technica]