Married royal protection officer ‘pestered' revenge porn victim so much she withdrew complaint

Telegraph

13-02-2025

A former royal protection officer who 'pestered' a revenge porn victim to such an extent that she withdrew her complaint has been jailed for eight months.
Mark Cranfield, a former Met and West Mercia Police constable, harassed the woman after interviewing her with messages on social media and downloaded the intimate video of her on his phone.
Sentencing the married 52-year-old at Birmingham crown court on Thursday, Judge Kerry Maylin described the offences as a 'grave betrayal' of the woman's trust in the police.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had come into the police station to make serious allegations and provided officers with the revenge porn video as evidence.
Cranfield downloaded the video and, minutes after the woman left the station, sent her a friend request on social media.
Judge Maylin told Cranfield, who appeared in the dock with his head bowed for much of his sentencing hearing: 'She told this court that you seemed more interested in the content of the photos and the video of an intimate nature than in supporting (her) and investigating the allegations that she made.
'You were exploring whether you could have an intimate relationship with her, be that in person or online.'
The fact that the images had been also forwarded by Cranfield to an unidentified phone number had had 'a marked impact' on the victim, the judge said.
She continued: 'Misconduct in a public office committed by police officers is always a grave betrayal of trust. Punishment and deterrence are important elements in cases such as this.
'You have now expressed remorse but I am afraid, doing my public duty, I cannot accede to the submission to suspend your sentence.'
Cranfield, who was based at Ludlow police station in Shropshire, was convicted in December of two counts of misconduct in public office and an offence of accessing computer records, including the woman's phone number, without authorisation.
Jurors were told Cranfield made his attraction to the woman obvious when she made a complaint and provided evidence to police, smirking as he told her: 'I'm glad I got to see the pictures.'
The court heard he then had inappropriate contact with the victim, sent her messages about his sex life and forwarded intimate videos and images to a WhatsApp account that has yet to be traced.
The former officer was cleared of a third misconduct offence relating to the social media friend request.
Cranfield told his trial that he had no sexual interest in the woman and believed he had deleted the images and video, which were found on his work phone more than two years after the inquiry.
Cranfield, of Bromfield, near Ludlow, denied he had been 'titillated' by the video.
He said he had contacted the woman via a social media messaging app to discuss 'everyday' issues and had only sent further messages in a panic because his wife wrongly believed he was having an affair.
Prosecutor Simon Rippon told the trial that the offences came to light in April 2021, when Cranfield's work phone was seized from his locker without warning for reasons entirely unconnected to the case.
Mr Rippon said two photographs of the complainant were found on the phone, with a video of the woman stripping and engaging in a sexual act.
Other images of the woman wearing clothing had been deleted, the court heard.
Mr Rippon previously told the court: 'The prosecution case is he (Cranfield) took an improper sexual interest in her.
'The defendant, plainly acting as a police officer, started to ask very intimate questions about what she was doing and wanted her to share with him graphic details.'
The prosecutor said the complainant signed a statement and 'by the time she got home about 15 minutes later' Cranfield had sent her a friend request, which she declined.
The officer then sent further messages 'pestering' the woman, asking how she was and saying his sex life with his wife 'had gone out of the window'.
A statement read to the trial during the defence case said Cranfield, who had been a constable for 27 years, spent the majority of his service with the Met on royal protection duties and had also been an armed officer with the West Mercia force.
Offering mitigation prior to sentence, defence barrister Liz Power said Cranfield was a hard-working family man who had been stacking shelves at Tesco 'to add a little bit more to the family income'.
Ms Power added: 'This was a man who, for whatever the reason, was clearly under some difficulties in his relationship with his wife and found solace in contacting someone else.
'As a police officer, he shouldn't have done it, he overstepped the line.'