A mother-of-three branded Poole council “ludicrous and completely outrageous” yesterday as she took the authority to court for using controversial powers to spy on her family.

Poole Borough Council was accused of playing “fast and loose” in its attempts to establish whether Jenny Paton’s children lived in the correct school catchment area.

She made an official complaint over their use of the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) in this way.

Speaking before a landmark two-day Investigatory Powers Tribunal hearing in central London, Ms Paton, 40, said: “Some of the operational aspects are ludicrous and completely outrageous and, I think, we all need protecting from the way local authorities are using Ripa.

“This is about saying ‘no more’ – let’s have more safeguards and better scrutiny.”

Also, speaking outside court, James Welch, a lawyer from human rights charity Liberty, which is representing Ms Paton, said: “We are asking this tribunal to declare that the surveillance powers used to watch Ms Paton were unlawful.

“This is not about the money – it’s about the legal principle.”

It is alleged a council official made notes documenting the comings and goings of the mother-of-three and her partner, Tim Joyce, for nearly three weeks to find out if the family lived at an address in the catchment area for Lilliput First School.

Ripa, dubbed a “snooper’s charter”, has been used to monitor relatively trivial offences by some local councils. Just this week the Home Office announced new guidelines to rein in how it is used.

A spokesman for Borough of Poole said the council’s use of Ripa had been “extremely limited” and following a review last year, was no longer used for school admissions.

He said the council had “a responsibility to ensure that the school admissions process is fair to all and is not open to abuse,” and would be “making representations” to the tribunal on the matter.

The hearing continues today.