A judge sentenced a former U.K. police officer to a year in prison Tuesday after he admitted filming naked sunbathers and a couple having sex from a police force helicopter.
The prosecution showed former Officer Adrian Pogmore’s footage in court despite his confession, the Guardian reported. The charges also implicated two other officers and two helicopter pilots who were present during the filming, but they claimed they had no idea what Pogmore was using his camera to film and received acquittals, the Independent reported.
“So strong were your sexual urges that you were willing to take, and did take, substantial risks of being detected by your colleagues in the helicopter at the time,” Judge Peter Kelson said before sentencing. “You spied on and recorded these naked people from a height of 1,000 feet. You, quite literally, considered yourself above the law. Nobody is above the law.”
The judge said Pogmore’s crimes were somewhat mitigated by the officers 22-year career, during which he received several commendations. Pogmore also never denied the charges in court. He admitted his guilt on the first day of trial and expressed his remorse for the actions.
“He fully appreciates the seriousness of his behavior,” Pogmore’s attorney said. “It was utterly irresponsible. It was thoughtless and foolish. But it was not motivated by anything more sinister than that.”
Prosecutors, however, framed Pogmore as a “sex obsessed” man who used government property to carry out sexual deviancy. Pogmore’s fellow police officers said he was known as the “team deviant,” and the judge agreed.
“In short, you used a £2m helicopter which costs something like 1,000 dollars an hour to run to advance your own sexual curiosities when it should have been detecting crime,” Kelson said.
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