Landowners have no automatic right to privacy for the majority of activities taking place on their land – that’s the message from one solicitor in the wake of the ‘spy gate’ controversy between Leeds United and Derby County.
Earlier this month a member of Leeds United’s training staff was caught using binoculars on public land to observe Derby Country’s training session just days before the teams played each other, prompting The Rams to call the police, who subsequently moved the individual on.
The incident has sparked debate amongst football pundits about whether it is cheating, and there is to be an FA investigation as to whether any rules or codes of conduct have been broken by the Leeds United manager, the club or Leeds United’s staff member.
As for whether any criminal offences have been committed, Jon Wilby, Head of Litigation at Band Hatton Button in Coventry, said: “From the scant facts that are known, almost certainly none.
“The Leeds United employee was standing on public land, so he wasn’t trespassing – which on its own isn’t a criminal offence in any case.
“There is no automatic right of privacy to activities on private land that can be viewed from a public vantage point, such as if it were someone standing on a pavement looking into a house window.
“It would only be if the nature of the observing or the conduct of the observer was to make it an act of voyeurism or harassment that it would become a potential criminal matter.
“Neither of those things would seem very likely in this instance and perhaps the reality is that Derby County were more intent in sending a message or ramping up the pressure by calling the police than genuinely feeling that they had been the victims of a criminal act.”
