Edinburgh landlord accused of recording tenants in the bathroom walks free from court

Giuseppe Corallo was alleged to have used a digital clock containing a covert recording device to record two men who were renting rooms at his Edinburgh home in November 2023.

Corallo, 64, was arrested and charged after one of his tenants spotted the device on a shelf facing the bath tub while he was naked in the shower and later reported the matter to the police.

The tenant, who is in his 20s, said he had examined the clock before confronting the homeowner but was told the device had been given to him by a friend and the camera did not work.

The man claimed that while telling his flat mate about the clock, Corallo had burst into his room and grabbed the device before disposing of it by throwing it in a bin. The two men, who cannot be identified due to legal reasons, moved out of the flat soon after the incident and reported their landlord to the police in January last year.

Officers then attended at the property in the Leith area of the capital with a search warrant but no recordings of the two men were ever found.

Giuseppe Corallo was alleged to have used a digital clock containing a covert recording device | Alexander Lawrie

Corallo, an Italian national, was arrested and charged with voyeurism offences and has been on trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court over the last two months after denying any wrongdoing.

The two tenants told the court they had been renting separate rooms at Corallo’s home before one man noticed the digital clock that had been placed on a shelf within the bathroom. The man said he was taking a shower when he spotted the device and after becoming suspicious he had shone his mobile phone light onto the front and spotted a camera lens inside.

The second tenant said he was “shocked” to see the camera inside the clock and Corallo had been “nervous and shaking” when confronted about the device.

The man said the landlord had attempted to pin the blame on a friend who had given him the clock but when he asked for friend’s details he had been told the man had since died.

Corallo told the court, with the aid of an interpreter, he had bought the clock containing the digital camera on Amazon claiming one of the tenants had been entering his bedroom without permission. The landlord said the camera had not worked from the day he bought it and denied making any recordings of the two men while they showered or used the toilet.

Defence witness Andrea Meneghini, 56, told the court Corallo had given him the clock to check after buying it because the camera function was not working. Mr Meneghini, an IT expert, told the court the WiFi function on the device did not connect and in his opinion the camera was faulty and did not operate.

After hearing all the evidence Sheriff Graeme Watson said there was enough “reasonable doubt” in the case and delivered a not proven verdict after finding the Crown had failed to prove the allegations on Wednesday, November 5.

Corallo was acquitted of operating equipment with the intention of enabling him to observe both men showering and using the toilet at his home between November 1, 2023 and January 31 last year.