THE crew of a police helicopter used the aircraft over a period of five years to film people sunbathing naked, naturists on a campsite and a couple having sex in their garden as they “brazenly put on a show”, a jury has been told.

Prosecutors outlined details of the activities of the police helicopter crew, which included a 64-year-old pilot from Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, as their trial started at Sheffield Crown Court.

Richard Wright QC, prosecuting, told a jury the aircraft's crew - two police officers and two pilots - were denying misconduct in a public office.

He said: “They used the unique viewing position afforded to them, together with the powerful video camera with which the helicopter is equipped, to video members of the public engaged in private activities in a gross violation of their privacy.

“On three separate occasions they filmed a total of five people sunbathing naked in private and, on another occasion, they filmed a couple having sexual intercourse in their own garden.”

The jury was shown graphic footage, shot from the South Yorkshire Police helicopter, of a couple having sex on the patio of their suburban house.

The eight-minute long film features a naked woman - who waves at the aircraft at one point - and a man wearing only a Manchester United football shirt. The pair were engaging in a range of sex acts and sexual positions.

Playing the footage, Mr Wright said: “As you will see in a moment, the couple who were filmed on this occasion were very much aware that they were being observed, indeed they seem to relish it.

“The reason that this couple are so happy to be recorded engaging in sexual intercourse is that they are friends of Mr Pogmore, and 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.

“You may hope that the police helicopter is chasing down criminals and keeping the community safe. You may never imagine that in fact it is being used to film a pair of swingers in the throes of sexual passion for the entertainment of the crew.”

The prosecutor explained how the couple featured were friends of Adrian Pogmore, 50, of Whiston, Rotherham, a police officer and an air observer on the helicopter, who has pleaded guilty to offences of misconduct in a public office.

The four men on trial - Matthew Lucas, 42, of Coppice Rise, Chapeltown, Sheffield, Lee Walls, 47, of Southlands Way, Aston, Sheffield, Matthew Loosemore, 45, of Briar Close, Auckley, Doncaster and Reeves, 64 - all deny the same offence.

Mr Wright said the incident involving the couple having sex on the patio happened on July 28, 2008, when the aircraft was piloted by Loosemore, with Pogmore and Lucas as the observers.

Earlier the same day, the helicopter was used to film a couple sitting naked by a caravan on a campsite used by naturists.

The prosecutor said: "Although naturists expect to be seen naked by other naturists, they do not expect to be monitored by the crew of the police helicopter."

Footage shot on August 23, 2007 - when the pilot was Reeves, of Farfield Avenue, Knaresborough, and the observers were Pogmore and Walls - appeared to involve the aircraft circling a garden where a woman was sunbathing without clothes on a lawn.

Mr Wright said the woman was with two daughters - aged 18 and 15 - who were wearing bikinis and an eight-year-old daughter, who appeared to be fully clothed in the footage.

The prosecutor said: “There is self-evidently no legitimate policing purpose connected to orbiting her home and using equipment to film her naked body.”

Mr Wright said the final incident - again featuring people sunbathing naked - was on July 22, 2012, when the aircraft was piloted by Reeves.

The trial continues.