A CARDIGAN man tried take photos of a 78-year-old woman as she went to the toilet at a wildlife centre, magistrates have heard.

Adam Silcox, 21, put his phone under the partition of two toilet cubicles in the ladies toilets at Cilgerran Wildlife Centre.

The woman saw what was happening and reported it to authorities, the Aberystwyth court heard.

Silcox, of Flat 1, Pendre, had initially denied the incident, but the day before a trial was due to be held Silcox changed his plea to guilty.

Prosecutor Helen Tench said the woman was visiting the centre with her husband and had gone into the ladies toilets.

While she was in a cubicle, she saw a hand holding a phone come from under the partition of the neighbouring cubicle, with the phone pointed at her.

She moved a bin to block the hand and left before telling her husband and wildlife centre staff what had happened.

Staff waited outside the toilets and saw Silcox come out before confronting him.

Silcox said he had been desperate to use the toilet, and had been forced into the ladies because the mens toilets were occupied.

He said he had dropped his phone and had been retrieving it.

Ms Tench said that an application for a sexual harm prevention order would be made at the sentencing hearing.

Defence solicitor Alan Lewis said Silcox had changed his plea as he didn’t want to put the victim through the stress of a trial, with Mr Lewis saying it is “not an easy offence to admit”.

He said Silcox’s behaviour had been a “moment of madness”, but that Silcox had been opportunistic and had not deliberately targeted the victim.

Silcox’s phone had shown that he had only managed to take a picture of the floor and Mr Lewis said he had been unlikely to be able to take any picture of the victim.

Mr Lewis said there was no pre-planning in the incident and that Silcox was very remorseful and apologetic about the incident.

Magistrates said they wanted a full pre-sentence report and adjourned until a sentencing hearing on 14 December. Silcox was released on unconditional bail.