A man who repeatedly violated women's privacy by hacking into their online accounts has been jailed, but his motivation remains a mystery.
Adam Piggott, 36, of Lime Street, Shrewsbury, had previously been handed a suspended sentence for a similar offence in January 2025. However, he did not seize the opportunity to change his behaviour.
As part of his sentence, Piggott was given a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO), which allowed officers to regularly check his devices. It was during one of these checks in August 2025 that the new victims were identified.
The device check, carried out by West Mercia Police's Cyber Crime Unit, found that Piggott had been signing in to email accounts belonging to other people. He was arrested and all his devices were seized.
Further reviews of his devices revealed that Piggott had also gained access to his victims' social media and online shopping accounts. He was released on bail pending further enquiries and charged in March this year, when more evidence came to light.
Piggott appeared at Shrewsbury Crown Court on Friday, May 15, after pleading guilty to 12 counts of causing a computer to perform a function to secure or enable unauthorised access to a program or data, and one charge of attempting to cause a computer to perform a function to secure or enable unauthorised access to a program or data.
The court was told that no evidence was found to suggest Piggott's actions were sexually motivated. The judge handed him a 32-month custodial sentence, as well as a five-year CBO, which means he must hand over any digital device he has access to immediately for examination upon police request.
Following the sentence, Detective Constable Martyn Short said: “Piggott repeatedly chose to violate the privacy of women, despite already being given opportunities to change his behaviour.
“His actions caused significant distress to his victims, and this sentence reflects the seriousness of his offending.
“Our team worked tirelessly to uncover the full extent of his activity, and this case shows how determined we are to protect the public from those who misuse technology to target others.
“We will never fully understand why Piggott carried out this type of offending, however, we have no evidence to suggest it was sexually motivated.
“We hope this outcome provides reassurance to the victims and sends a clear message that online offending will be thoroughly investigated and robustly dealt with.”
