Sex-crazed cop used South Yorkshire Police helicopter to film swingers' x-rated outdoor romp

A sex-crazed South Yorkshire Police constable used a force helicopter to film a pair of swingers 'brazenly' putting on a sex show in a back garden for his own gratification, a court heard.
Former police constable Adrian Pogmore, 51, has admitted to being involved in the filming of four videos of members of the public having sex or sunbathing naked on private land using a South Yorkshire Police helicopterFormer police constable Adrian Pogmore, 51, has admitted to being involved in the filming of four videos of members of the public having sex or sunbathing naked on private land using a South Yorkshire Police helicopter
Former police constable Adrian Pogmore, 51, has admitted to being involved in the filming of four videos of members of the public having sex or sunbathing naked on private land using a South Yorkshire Police helicopter

Jurors at Sheffield Crown Court were this morning shown a 10-minute video, captured using high-tech recording equipment in a South Yorkshire Police helicopter, of a couple of having sex in a number of different positions in the back garden of a Rotherham property.

Prosecuting, Richard Wright QC, told the court that not only were the couple aware they were being recorded but they 'relished' being filmed; and in the video footage used in evidence before the court this morning the woman can be clearly seen waving to the camera before commencing the sexual activity.

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The woman is naked throughout the video, while her partner is wearing just a Manchester United shirt.

(L-R) Lee Walls, Malcolm Reeves, Matthew Lucas and Matthew Loosemore are all accused of participating in the filming of naked sunbathers while employed as members of a South Yorkshire Police helicopter crew(L-R) Lee Walls, Malcolm Reeves, Matthew Lucas and Matthew Loosemore are all accused of participating in the filming of naked sunbathers while employed as members of a South Yorkshire Police helicopter crew
(L-R) Lee Walls, Malcolm Reeves, Matthew Lucas and Matthew Loosemore are all accused of participating in the filming of naked sunbathers while employed as members of a South Yorkshire Police helicopter crew

Former police constable Adrian Pogmore, 50, has admitted to being involved in the making of the footage on July 28, 2008 as well as three other surreptitious videos taken of five naked or semi-clothed sunbathers, one of whom was only eight-years-old, across the South Yorkshire area between 2007 and 2012.

Mr Wright told the court that the couple captured having sex, in the third of four incidents to be brought before the court in this trial, were friends of Pogmore's.

He said: "[They] shared his sexual interest in the swinging scene. It was clearly therefore no coincidence that the helicopter orbits around their garden while they brazenly put on a show.

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"They may have welcomed the thrill of being observed in this way, but this incident encapsulates the wider harm to the public trust and confidence in the police occasioned by this offending."

Malcolm ReevesMalcolm Reeves
Malcolm Reeves

While Pogmore, of Guilthwaite Crescent, Whiston, Rotherham has admitted to the four charges of misconduct in a public office, four of his colleagues - two pilots, a police officer and a police constable - also in the aircraft during the filming have gone on trial for the offences they face relating to the four incidents after pleading not guilty.

Mr Wright said all four of the defendants effectively place the blame for all four recordings 'at the door of Pogmore'.

The first incident took place on August 23, 2007, when a woman sunbathing naked in her private back garden, which has a seven-feet high fence surrounding it, was filmed, alongside her daughters aged 18, 15 and eight-years-old who were all in bikinis.

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On that date Malcolm Reeves, 64, of Garfield Avenue, Knaresborough was piloting the aircraft, sitting next to him was Pogmore acting as a left police air observer, while serving officer Lee Walls, 46, was the right police air observer.

Matthew LucasMatthew Lucas
Matthew Lucas

Mr Wright said: "The helicopter has a sophisticated camera attached to it that can be controlled by the crew and the camera was trained upon [the woman] and her children.

"The camera has a powerful zoom function and the operator used that to zoom in on the naked body [of the woman] and in particular her genitalia."

The second incident took place a few hours before the swinger couple were filmed having sex on July 28, 2008.

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An 81-year-old man and his partner were filmed for several minutes sunbathing naked on a secluded piece of private farmland in Doncaster.

Matthew LoosemoreMatthew Loosemore
Matthew Loosemore

On this occasion serving officer Matthew Lucas was the left police air observer, while Pogmore was the right air observer.

Matthew Loosemore, 44, who was a South Yorkshire Police pilot before transferring to the National Police Air Service in 2013, was piloting the aircraft but he has not been charged in relation to this incident due to the Crown's belief 'it is quite possible he was unaware of the camera being used to film this couple'.

The fourth incident took place at another private home in the Rotherham area on July 22, 2012, when the property's homeowners were sunbathing naked in the garden.

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Mr Wright said: "The helicopter was not there on police business and had no legitimate reason to circle the property during which time the camera was used to record and zoom in on the couple and in particular the naked genitalia of the female."

The offending came to light when all four recordings were discovered in a drawer used by Pogmore at Maltby police station in March 2015.

Mr Wright told jurors there will be attempts to 'trivilaise' the behaviour of the four defendants and Pogmore, for it to be seen as nothing worse than 'isolated incidents of laddish conduct'.

Lee WallsLee Walls
Lee Walls

He added: "This was a deliberate invasion of their privacy for at the very least the inappropriate amusement of the crew and at worst for their sexual gratification. It represents not just an abuse of the trust that was placed in them as the crew of the police helicopter, but also a gross waste of a valuable resource and all with the effect that as a result the public confidence in the South Yorkshire Constabulary.

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"There was no legitimate police purpose for any of the observations being made on these members of the public. There was no basis for flying over their homes, selecting them as targets and filming them."

Walls, of Southlands Way, Aston, Loosemore, of Briar Close, Auckley and Reeves, who retired from his role as a pilot with SYP in 2013, all deny one count of misconduct in a public office while Lucas, of denies three counts of misconduct relating to watching and filming naked people without their consent and observing and recording people performing sexual acts.

The trial continues.