A Welsh farmer was sent to prison Thursday for concealing cameras in smoke detectors in a rental cottage and filming women and girls without their clothes on.

David Sturgess, 53, said he was innocent as a judge in Swansea Crown Court imposed a 2 1/2-year sentence, the South Wales Evening Post reported. The judge said Sturgess was guilty of a "gross intrusion" on his victims.

He was convicted last month of voyeurism and making indecent photographs of children. Prosecutors said many of his victims were teenage girls staying at the cottage in Llandysul.

Sturgess hid cameras inside smoke detectors, allowing him to watch live and to record images for the future. Among the moments he filmed were women and girls nude or partly clothed, showering, on the toilet and shaving their legs or other areas of their bodies.