Ex-Cop Jailed Over Gerrard Blackmail Plot
A former policewoman who seized CCTV as a "tool to blackmail" Liverpool footballer Steven Gerrard has been jailed for 22 months.
http://news.sky.com/story/1440012/ex-cop-jailed-over-steven-gerrard-cctv-row
Helen Jones, a former PC with Merseyside Police, obtained footage of a street bust-up by "flashing her warrant card" to the manageress of a bank. The incident involved friends of Gerrard arguing with other men at a bar near the star's home in Formby. The row spilled on to the street and was captured by cameras controlled by a nearby bank. Local businessman Paul Lloyd, 35, claimed Gerrard "threw the first punch". However, at an earlier hearing prosecutors said the then England captain was acting as a peacemaker on the evening of 4 August, 2013. Ms Jones did not deny improperly using her status as a police officer to get the CCTV. © Provided by Sky News
The 32-year-old, who has moved from Formby to Chatham in Kent, admitted misconduct in a public office but said she was doing a favour for a friend. This was discounted by Judge Stuart Baker at a three-day hearing last November. He said the CCTV was secured to use "possibly as a lever to cause Mr Gerrard to pay money to suppress it or, at the very least, to use it in a way which would potentially cause embarrassment, as has in fact occurred". Jailing her today, Judge Baker told Ms Jones: "This was deliberate and calculated misconduct in a public office. "You deliberately created a false impression in the mind of the bank manager that you were investigating a criminal offence." Judge Baker conceded that Jones may not have known who, eventually, the CCTV would be passed to or for what purpose. But he said she had caused Gerrard and his friend Lee McPartland "serious personal embarrassment" - and damaged the reputation of Merseyside Police.
A former policewoman who seized CCTV as a "tool to blackmail" Liverpool footballer Steven Gerrard has been jailed for 22 months.
http://news.sky.com/story/1440012/ex-cop-jailed-over-steven-gerrard-cctv-row
Helen Jones, a former PC with Merseyside Police, obtained footage of a street bust-up by "flashing her warrant card" to the manageress of a bank. The incident involved friends of Gerrard arguing with other men at a bar near the star's home in Formby. The row spilled on to the street and was captured by cameras controlled by a nearby bank. Local businessman Paul Lloyd, 35, claimed Gerrard "threw the first punch". However, at an earlier hearing prosecutors said the then England captain was acting as a peacemaker on the evening of 4 August, 2013. Ms Jones did not deny improperly using her status as a police officer to get the CCTV. © Provided by Sky News
The 32-year-old, who has moved from Formby to Chatham in Kent, admitted misconduct in a public office but said she was doing a favour for a friend. This was discounted by Judge Stuart Baker at a three-day hearing last November. He said the CCTV was secured to use "possibly as a lever to cause Mr Gerrard to pay money to suppress it or, at the very least, to use it in a way which would potentially cause embarrassment, as has in fact occurred". Jailing her today, Judge Baker told Ms Jones: "This was deliberate and calculated misconduct in a public office. "You deliberately created a false impression in the mind of the bank manager that you were investigating a criminal offence." Judge Baker conceded that Jones may not have known who, eventually, the CCTV would be passed to or for what purpose. But he said she had caused Gerrard and his friend Lee McPartland "serious personal embarrassment" - and damaged the reputation of Merseyside Police.
