A man has been smacked with an £1,800 fine for illegally videoing Premier League games by flying drones above the stadiums.
According to BBC Sport, 42 year-old Nigel Wilson admitted to nine breaches of recording video footage at professional football grounds between September 16 and October 18 last year. The teams featured in these games included Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur.
A judge in the Westminster Magistrates' Court told him:
It was the height of arrogance in terms of public safety. At each and every one of these places an accident could have occurred simply by a gust of wind or something of that nature taking it out of your control
Wilson also illegally recorded a Champions League game between Liverpool and Ludogorets FC where his drone was adjudged to have frightened police horses. Wilson was also arrested twice and had his drones confiscated during his rampage.
By law, no unmanned surveillance device should be operated over or within 150 metres of an assembly of more than 1,000 people. A judge told the convicted man that he was putting the public at risk by flying the drones over busy, built-up areas. Wilson used three drones to record the footage which he uploaded to Youtube.
