Doctor hid cameras in air fresheners and smoke alarm to film colleagues

A doctor has been found guilty of secretly spying on 30 different people.

Ju Young Um hid tiny cameras in air fresheners and a smoke alarm in the bathroom and spare bedroom of his flat in Hyndland in Glasgow.

The 34-year-old also discreetly filmed a friend and doctor at staff accommodation in Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary.

The anaesthetist – who also worked in Glasgow – denied doing anything illegal.

He instead claimed he has body dysmorphia – a condition where sufferers obsess over apparent flaws in their appearance. Um said this was only diagnosed after he was arrested.

The doctor insisted that he was born with a small penis and used the footage to compare with other men.

However, a jury at Glasgow Sheriff Court decided that Um’s acts were done for his sexual gratification.

Um was found guilty of a total of 23 charges under the Sexual Offences Act between November 2020 and August 2023.

Of his 30 victims, 21 were men and nine were women. Three of the men and one woman were doctors.

The court heard that Um initially recorded his first victim in secret with a mobile through a window while he showered.

Um later attached a camera to a smoke alarm of the fellow’s doctor’s bedroom at the hospital.

The footage also captured intimate footage between this man and his partner.

Fiscal Lauren Aitchison asked the doctor what he thought about Um’s actions.

He replied: “It makes me feel shocked, betrayed and disgusted. Not only because it invaded my privacy, but my now wife’s as well.

“I feel like I let her down letting this person into our lives – someone who I trusted in work in a professional capacity. I feel let down and horrified.”

Another doctor was filmed on the toilet at Um’s home in Hyndland.

He initially knew Um from university and went for dinner at his house.

The doctor stated that he was “shocked and betrayed” upon learning that he had been discreetly filmed.

Jurors were told that a further medic had nine recordings made of him showering and using the toilet over a three-month period.

Um rented out his spare bedroom to others at the Hyndland property on Airbnb.

Ms Aitchison said in her closing speech to jurors: “Um violated their trust – he recorded them naked, showering, using the toilet and on some occasions having sex.

“He had the videos saved automatically into a folder which was backed up on hard drives and pen drives just in case.”

Um told jurors in his evidence that he was diagnosed with “suspected gigantism” when he was a teenager which was “possibly” why he had a “small penis”.

Jurors heard that Um did not seek medical help until 20 years later.

Um further said he did not want to view images on Google in case he came across illegal photographs.

He also claimed that he did not view pornography as it was “exaggerated and bigger than your normal male.”

Um stated that he also did not compare himself with his patients as they were “people who trusted him.”

Um is believed to have been latterly working as a lecturer.

Sentence was deferred pending background reports until next month by Sheriff Owen Mullan.

Um was granted bail and put on the sex offenders register meantime.