Jess Davies was sleeping when a man she trusted photographed her naked body and shared it on a private WhatsApp group. That betrayal — the secret recording, the distribution without consent — set her on a path to uncover a dark online network where men boast about filming women they know. “It felt so extremely violating, to think someone you cared for could do this to me,” she said. “It makes you feel worthless.”
Davies, 33, who grew up in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, has now teamed up with investigative journalist Liam Connell for a new BBC documentary, Hunting the Spycammers. Connell has previously infiltrated secretive online networks; together they gained access to a voyeur website that acts as a hub linking to encrypted chat groups. There, they found people openly exchanging tips on secretly filming others and boasting about their recordings. “It’s a never-ending cycle of mass distribution of non-consensual content of women,” Davies said. “It feels like these women are being hunted down and preyed upon.”
“Jess Davies investigates men who secretly film wives and share footage online in new BBC documentary.”
The programme reveals cameras hidden in bedrooms, bathrooms, changing rooms and other private spaces. One man placed a camera on a walking route in the hope of catching women urinating. But what disturbed Davies most was the targeting of loved ones. “What is really disturbing is how many of the perpetrators were filming and sharing content of people — mostly women — that were their loved ones,” she said. “It really highlights how anyone can be targeted with this harm.”
The scale of the problem is hard to quantify. Welsh Women’s Aid said most victims don’t even know it’s happening. Refuge reported a 78% rise in technology-facilitated abuse referrals. Davies discovered cheap spycam technology: cameras disguised as everyday objects such as pens, air fresheners and plugs. “Seeing similar images of other victims shared in the forum that we infiltrated brought those feelings of betrayal back and made me question where my image ended up,” she said. “Could it have made its way to one of these forums?”
Some dismiss the actions as harmless or “just banter”; the voyeurs she encountered argued that if the victim never knew, there was no problem. Davies rejects that. “Behind each image or video is a person who has to live with that betrayal for the rest of their life,” she said. “It really highlights how dismissed online harms and image abuse is.”