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LONDON — Police in the United Kingdom are accused of using the aircraft’s powerful video camera to film members of the public who were having sex and sunbathing naked.

Prosecutor Richard Wright said at the start of the trial Tuesday that the filming was a “gross violation” of the victims’ privacy along with a “gross waste of valuable resource.” He said the public has a right to hope that police helicopters are being used to keep communities safe, not to film sex acts from the air.

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The case against the three police officers and two pilots, in Sheffield Crown Court relies in part on a graphic, eight-minute film consisting of footage from the South Yorkshire Police helicopter.

The BBC reports that footage showed a couple having sex on their patio in July 2008, along with a couple sitting naked outside their caravan, also in July 2008, and a woman sunbathing naked in 2007. Other sunbathers were also filmed in 2012, according to the prosecutors.

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One police officer, 50-year-old Adrian Pogmore, has pleaded guilty to misconduct. Four other men deny the charges.

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Prosecutors say the couple filmed having sex were friends of Pogmore and appeared aware of the helicopter. The others were unaware of the intrusion.

The unidentified woman who was sunbathing told the court “it makes [her] sick to think that this took place.”

The trial is expected to last three weeks.

*with files from Global News