A British woman whose family was spied on by a local council using defense laws is taking officials to court.

Jenny Paton, 40, said Poole Borough Council spied on her family 21 times in three weeks after she applied to have her children sent to a highly rated school in Poole, the Daily Mail reported Friday.

Ben Hooper, counsel for the district's borough council, told the Investigatory Powers Tribunal in central London that the council used the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act to spy on the family to ensure they were telling the truth about living in the correct school catchment.

"It was minimally invasive of privacy," Hooper said."This is educational gold dust. I say that it was a very successful state school where in June of this year it reported as being outstanding in every one of the areas it had been examined."

Authorities said the surveillance involved the logging of where cars had been parked and occasional following of vehicles.