Former glamour model sues police for spying on her

A former glamour model is suing South Yorkshire Police for £200,000 after an officer used a police helicopter to spy on her as she sunbathed naked in her garden. 

 

Tracy Dixon, claimed that the police force breached her privacy three to four times a week over three years. She claims that the police helicopter hovered above her home in Rotherham for long durations. 

 

The case was taken to Sheffield Crown Court in 2017, when Former Pc Adrian Pogmore, 53, was sentenced to a year in prison after admitting four counts of misconduct in a public office.

 

The "sex obsessed" former officer was allegedly a member of a swinger's club and used the helicopter to spy on a number of residents in their gardens. It was also reported that Pogmore filmed Ms Dixon's daughters, who were all under the age of 18 at the time. 

 

During the case, Ms Dixon told the court: "Home was where I felt safe. The only thing that disturbed us was the yellow and black police helicopter."

 

At the time of his conviction, Judge Peter Kelson QC told Pogmore: "You, quite literally, considered yourself above the law,"

 

"You used a £2 million helicopter which costs something like $1,000 (£770) an hour to run to advance your own sexual curiosities when it should have been detecting crime. So strong were your sexual urges that you were willing to take, and did take, substantial risks of being detected by your colleagues."

 

Pogmore's colleagues told the jury that they were unaware of what Pogmore was doing with the high-powered camera. Helicopter pilots Matthew Loosemore, 45, and Malcolm Reeves, 64, and police officers Lee Walls, 47, and Matthew Lucas, 43, were cleared of all wrongdoing. 

 

Following the court case, Ms Dixon is reportedly suing South Yorkshire Police for £200,000 as she claims she never received an apology from the force. She has started the legal bid claiming that her privacy was invaded which caused her significant distress.