A 49-year-old Nova Scotia man has been charged with voyeurism after police launched a lengthy investigation into a series of break and enters in the south end of Halifax.

Barry Edwards Sinclair has been accused of breaking into homes and watching women sleep, as well as taking pictures of young women without their knowledge.

CTV News spoke with some women who live in the south end of the city today and they say they are relieved to hear about the charges.

"I was completely disgusted by the whole thing," says Kennedy MacLean. "It is nice to know that someone is finally caught."

Sinclair was escorted into the Halifax provincial court this morning to face five counts of voyeurism and two counts of break and enter. The charges stem from two break-ins in the south end last September.

"…the first incident occurred at 5:51 a.m. on South Street after a woman woke up and found a man watching her," says Chief Frank Beazley of the Halifax Regional Police.

Police picked up Sinclair a short distance away. He was questioned and subsequently released.

The second break-in wasn't reported until the next day.

Sinclair was arrested a second time after he was located on a back deck near a window in the south end. He was subsequently charged with trespass by night and resisting arrest. He has been in custody ever since.

A week-and-a-half later, after his home had been searched, police took the unusual step of releasing pictures of four women in an attempt to identify them.

Three of the women in the pictures came forward, telling the police they didn't know they were being photographed .

The fourth woman has never been identified.

The Crown says the allegations span between 2005 and 2011.

"…these are allegations of observing person in circumstances in which they have a reasonable expectation of privacy," says Crown Attorney Denise Smith.

Paperwork from the National Parole Board refers to Sinclair's compulsive sexual behaviour. There are also allegations that Sinclair was a peeping tom in women's washrooms and that he stalked a young woman.

Many people are wondering if this means the city's so-called sleepwatcher has been caught. Police won't go that far, instead saying there is no evidence to connect Sinclair to other break and enters in the area.

Sinclair will be back in court for a bail hearing next month.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Jacqueline Foster