A PENSIONER claims her privacy is being invaded by a CCTV camera set up just feet from her bedroom window.

Marion Cooper, 90, has lived on Cove Row in Weymouth for 25 years, but now she is unable to enjoy her view of the harbour side because the camera can see directly into her bedroom, her daughter has said.

Mrs Cooper’s daughter Meridy Phillips said her mother often sits in bed watching life on the harbour.

She said: “She likes sitting in bed and watching the fishing boats coming in, seeing the bridge open up and watching the people on the yachts.

“It’s something she’s enjoyed for a quarter of a century, but now every time she opens her curtains she sees the camera and it can easily see into her room.

“It’s an invasion of privacy.”

The camera was erected on Tuesday at the end of Cove Row, just outside Mrs Cooper’s house.

Mrs Phillips said they had received no notification that the equipment would be installed.

She said: “I was told by the men who came to put it up that it was for the Olympics.

“I don’t have anything against the idea of a camera in general. If you haven’t done anything wrong then you don’t have to worry about them, but I just feel that if we had been asked about it, we could have advised them to put it in a different place.”

The camera is part of a scheme run by Dorset Police to provide increased CCTV coverage during the Games.

Inspector Alan Jenkins, of the Olympic Planning Team, said: “We want these cameras to bring confidence to the community who live there and harbour users with regard to safety and security.

“We have already consulted with the community through a recent PACT meeting.”

He added: “At this moment in time the camera has been put in situ but is not working, and we will liaise with affected members of the community before they are switched on.

“We are not allowed to point a camera into a private dwelling and it is not our intention to do that.”

Mrs Phillips said: “I’m all for the Olympics, but I don’t think it’s been handled that well.

“Why put the camera directly outside a private house? Surely it would make more sense to put it outside a pub.

“And, let’s face it, people around the harbour area are going to be on their way to watch the sailing with a nice picnic. They’re not going to be hooligans.”

She added: “For this, they are denying my mother the ability to enjoy her view in peace.

“It makes me so cross.”