A British jury on Friday acquitted two police officers and two pilots of misusing a police helicopter to film people sunbathing naked and having sex.
Prosecutors say a South Yorkshire Police helicopter equipped with a powerful camera was used to film people in backyards and at a campsite in a “gross violation” of the victims’ privacy.
Another officer, Constable Adrian Pogmore, earlier pleaded guilty to making the recordings. He has been dismissed from the police force and will be sentenced next week.
His four colleagues testified that they didn’t know what Pogmore was up to. Jurors at Sheffield Crown Court in northern England believed them, delivering not-guilty verdicts to charges of misconduct in a public office.
In one case, a couple was filmed having sex on their patio, with their knowledge. Prosecutors said Pogmore was “a swinging and sex-obsessed air observer” who knew the couple through the swingers’ scene.