A mum has been banned from a heliport after watching its staff through a telescope.
Kerry Pope, 42, harassed workers by blocking the heliport gates, following them as they left, and watching them with her telescope.
A court heard the site in Tremorfa , Cardiff, was used for take-offs and landings by South Wales Police helicopters and the Welsh Air Ambulance charity.
But Pope believed it was also being used for private pesticide-spraying flights to control Japanese knotweed from the air.
She told officers she was allergic to the pesticides and visited the heliport to “gather evidence for the police”.
Sol Hartley, prosecuting, said: “This is a case of harassment without violence.
“There are approximately 14 occasions where Pope has been seen at or nearby to the heliport.”
Cardiff Magistrates’ Court heard Pope used her car to block the gates to the heliport and tried to contact staff.
Mr Hartley said: “Some employees were followed by Pope when they were leaving the site and she was spotted spying on staff using a telescope.”
After her arrest she told officers a “company known as PDG” had helicopters that flew from the heliport.
Mr Hartley said: “She believed the helicopters were spraying Japanese knotweed pesticide which she was allergic to and that she was being spied on.
“She was attending at the site to collect evidence to give to the police at a later date.”
Pope, from Whitchurch , Cardiff, pleaded guilty to harassment last month.
Fazila Aslam, mitigating, said: “Clearly this heliport and the concerns she has with that is a bugbear for her.”
She was handed a three-year restraining order at Tuesday’s hearing banning her from the heliport.
Pope was also made subject of a 12-month community order, told to complete a 25-day rehabilitation activity requirement, and fined £80. She must also pay £170 in court costs.
The £4m heliport has capacity for more than 180 flights in a single day and has space for up to 40 aircraft to be parked at any one time.
