Women being spied on by drones flying at night in Whitstable
Published: 00:01, 07 April 2018
Women in Whitstable say their privacy is being invaded by drones flying at night - with one mum fearing her teenage daughter has been spied on as she showered.
The reports have prompted concerns that the gadgets - believed to be carrying cameras - could be used to peer through windows.
Michelle Goyen, 44, was taking out the bins at about 8.45pm, when she spotted a drone hovering above her back garden off the Old Thanet Way.
"At first, I was concerned that someone was using it to burgle houses," said the mum-of-two, who lives with her partner and children.
But when she realised the flying object was hovering in view of where her 16-year-old daughter was upstairs in the shower, she became worried it could be peeping through windows.
"The bathroom looks out over the back garden," she said.
"The window's frosted, but it's still worrying.
"I didn't know what it was at first - I heard a humming sound and saw little red lights flashing. It must have had a camera too, so its controller could see where it was flying.
"It was just hovering there and must have seen me because after I started staring at it it suddenly zoomed off.
"It's made me wonder how many times they've been here in the past.
"It was only a coincidence that I went outside and saw it this time."
Minutes later, another local woman was reportedly followed by a drone matching the same description as she walked home from a bus stop in Borstal Hill.
Fifty-year-old Juliette Mason, of Sheppey View, was on her way home from work in Herne Bay when she heard a humming noise overhead.
"At first I thought it was a plane or something, then I realised it couldn't be," she said.
"It had little flashing lights and it was hovering just above me, and when I started to walk it followed me.
"I stopped, and it stopped too. It just hovered there.
"Then I started to walk again and it followed me, so I walked faster and it sped up. Then I started to run, and it sped up again.
"It followed me all the way to my front door.
"I went inside and told my husband, and he said 'that sounds like a drone'.
"He went outside and it was still there - he just stared up at it and it zoomed off.
"I don't like the thought it knows which house I live at. It could be burglars or something using them."
The owner of the drone has not been identified.
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Lydia Chantler-Hicks