Advancements in surveillance technology are prompting leery spouses to spy on their partners more than ever, according to an alarming new interview.
Maguire Family Law, with offices across England and Wales, is speaking up about a creepy new statistic they’ve observed at their busy divorce agency, saying about 20% of exes are engaging in potentially illegal spy activity against their partners.
Anecdotally speaking, one in five out of 400 recent clients are snooping on their spouses, they told the Independent.
And the proportion of peeping Toms has increased by 60% since a decade ago, the firm said, indicating that the sorts of tactics once employed by espionage agents have become increasingly accessible to civilians.
“Back then it was VHS or camcorders, but nowadays it’s much easier,” said one anonymous lawyer at Maguire.
“Spouses use tracking devices, dashes cams, and are putting spying software on mobile phones,” explained James Maguire, the firm’s managing director, who called their methods “quite sophisticated” and said he suspected his experience is “just the tip of the iceberg.”
Surveillance expert Roger Bescoby, director of Conflict International, warned that the tools are easy to find.
“In terms of where we’ve found devices, the list is endless,” he said, telling the Independent that cars, in particular, are “increasingly prime targets.” More “unusual” hiding spots have included plush toys, a box of cereal and a model boat, he claimed.
Maguire also shared that more men than women are willing to violate their partner’s trust in this way. As women have increasingly risen in the ranks in the workplace, their husbands, Maguire suspects, have struggled to “accept” their wives’ absence.
“It seems to be a default position in some but not all men, therefore, that there must be an affair,” he said.
Women certainly do also surveil their partners, but more often “to actually protect themselves,” said Maguire, such as recording for evidence of domestic abuse.
Amateur sleuths have to be careful how they go about it, as there are both legal and emotional repercussions at risk. Many types of recordings are not admissible in court, nor is the presentation of any stolen property. Those found in violation — regardless of their partner’s potential betrayal — could be prosecuted for invasion of privacy, among other potential legal breaches.
Maguire also added that those spouses caught spying on otherwise innocent partners may have only succeeded in facilitating the dissolution of love and intimacy.
“For both parties, the outcome is always negative,” he said.