Remember that time in early January 2020, when we were in the first stage of dystopia, with cities of the world turning into ghosts after being forced to lock down?

Oh, the COVID times. May you keep buggering off and never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever come back again.

But out of those times, the drone shone – not least because of a romantic young photographer, Jeremy Cohen, who spied a young woman dancing on the roof of her building in New York City – and flew his drone to ask her out on a date.

Cute story we know. It still does not make our memories of the years between December 2019 and December 2022 any fonder.

And if young master Cohen made good headlines for using a DJI drone to ask a girl out, this other young man in Naples, Italy, has found out the hard way that a drone is not always a romantic gesture to win a fair lady.

According to the Italian police, the 28-year-old man was spying on his ex-girlfriend with a drone when he crashed it through the woman’s window after trying to get it settled on a vantage position on the balcony.

According to the Italian Carabinieri, the 28-year-old from Naples was spying on his ex-girlfriend with a drone. The man flew up after a failed surveillance flight and is now under house arrest.

The woman immediately alerted the police, whereupon the man fled, leaving the damaged drone on the balcony.

The police confiscated the device and upon analysing the footage, were able to identify the man as he was recorded setting up the drone himself.

He was eventually found at his home and arrested for stalking. He now awaits trial and if convicted, will face a prison sentence of up to six and a half years.