A pervert vicar who spied on females in his parish escaped jail today.

Reverend Richard Lee, 49, used secret cameras to record his unsuspecting victims and kept the footage on a laptop.

Married father-of-two Lee, who was vicar of two churches in Somerset at the time, was rumbled when the images were discovered.

He was arrested and was today given eight months in prison after previously pleading guilty to eight charges of voyeurism and 18 of making indecent images.

But at Bristol Crown Court Judge Neil Ford QC suspended the sentence for two years because of Lee's previous ''good character''.

He said: "I have agonised about my public duty in this case and have come to this conclusion - that while sentences of imprisonment must be imposed they can be suspended.

"I am able to do this because of all I know about you and your positive good character.

"It is right to say that nothing I can do by way of punishment will come close to the dreadful loss that you have brought upon yourself.

"You have lost your family and your calling as a clergyman."

Lee carried out the offences over a 10-year period between 2002 and 2012 while working at two Somerset village churches - St Augustine's in Locking and St Mary's in Hutton and All Saints church in Hempstead.

Last year officers arrived at the Church of England vicar's home near Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, and conducted a search of the house.

A number of computers and hard drives were seized containing 400 category one images, 84 category one videos - the lowest level of the scale used to measure their severity.

But Lee also had 51 category two images, three category three images and four images and one video in category four - the second highest level.

The images, the majority of which were deleted, featured a woman and three girls aged under 16 - none of the images were believed to have been shared. Some of the images date back to when he was working in Gillingham.

"he appears in front of this court a truly broken man. hee has, through his own folly and more importantly his own criminality, lost everything he held most dear" – robin shellard, defending

Lee was arrested at his parent's house in Bodmin, Cornwall, where he immediately admitted the charges during interview.

Richard Posner, prosecuting told the court: "He filmed them at a time when they believed, thought and trusted they had privacy.

"He filmed a number of images all for his own sexual gratification and also searched for images of child abuse and made copies of these images. He was a pillar of the community."

Robin Shellard, defending, said that Lee blamed himself daily for his actions.

He said: "He appears in front of this court a truly broken man. Hee has, through his own folly and more importantly his own criminality, lost everything he held most dear through that particular weakness that revealed itself some 10 years ago.

"He has, and does, lay no blame on anybody but himself and he punishes himself every day. His sense of betrayal is replete."

He added that a number of parishioners had written letters in support the former vicar.

"Those who wrote those letters struggle to reconcile the man who tried to do so much good with somebody who has behaved with such degree of wickedness," he said.

"His sense of betrayal extent to his friends, family and all those he has ministered to and who look up to him and now feel so let down."

Lee remained emotionless throughout the sentencing where Judge Ford ordered him to attend the Thames Valley Sexual Offenders Programme.

He was also told to sign the Sexual Offenders Register for 10 years and was disqualified from working with children indefinitely.