Allan Bosomworth, Two Chefs and a Table co-owner, gets suspended sentence

Vancouver's peeping chef, Allan Bosomworth was given a suspended sentence with 12 months probation today for spying on staff and customers in his restaurant's washroom.

He was also banned from possessing a recording device, as part of the sentence handed down Wednesday morning in Provincial Court in Vancouver by Judge Harbans K. Dhillon.

Before handing down the sentence, the judge said Bosomworth's plan was well thought out and invaded the privacy of his employees.

The case began more than two years ago, when a tiny camera was found inside the bathroom of the Two Chefs and A Table Restaurant, in Vancouver's Gastown neighbourhood.

One of the restaurant's co-owners discovered the camera while cleaning the washroom shared by patrons and staff of the now-closed restaurant.

Bosomworth, the other owner of the restaurant, pleaded guilty last year to secretly observing or recording nudity in a public place.

According to court documents, Bosomworth observed people in the washroom for four days in December 2012. The space was the only private area in the establishment and was often used by staff as a changing room.

At the sentencing hearing last month, his lawyer, Maegan Richards, said her client was motivated by the thrill of knowing people’s secrets, not sexual impulses. She asked for a conditional discharge, which would have meant Bosomsworth would have avoided a criminal record.

But the judge agreed with Crown prosecutor Ellen Leno, who had asked for a suspended sentence with probation, meaning Bosomworth will have a criminal record.