PC 'sent friend request to revenge porn victim'

PC Mark Cranfield is alleged to have sent the friend request shortly after the woman left Ludlow police station

A police officer sent a Facebook friend request to a victim of so-called revenge porn minutes after making his attraction to her obvious, a court has heard.

West Mercia Police Constable Mark Cranfield, 52, is also alleged to have told the woman "I'm glad I got to see the pictures", after downloading intimate video given to him as evidence.

He is said to have sent the request to the complainant shortly after she left Ludlow police station in Shropshire in 2018.

Mr Cranfield, of Bromfield near Ludlow, denies three counts of misconduct in public office.

He also denies a fourth charge relating to accessing computer records without authorisation.

Opening the Crown's case on Tuesday, prosecutor Simon Rippon told Birmingham Crown Court the alleged offences came to light in April 2021, when the officer's work phone was examined for reasons unconnected to the case.

Mr Rippon said two photographs of the complainant were found on the work-issued phone, with video of the woman naked and engaging in a sexual act.

Records show the woman was dealt with by Mr Cranfield after going to police to make a statement about the video being shared online, the court heard.

Mr Rippon said: "The prosecution case is he 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."

'Panic mode'

The officer is alleged to have been smiling when he told the woman he was glad to have seen the pictures, the jury heard.

The prosecutor said the complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, signed a statement and "by the time she got home about 15 minutes later" Mr Cranfield had sent her a friend request, which she declined.

The officer is then said to have sent further messages asking how the woman was.

She eventually retracted her complaint relating to revenge porn, Mr Rippon said, because "she just didn't want to deal with this defendant any more".

It is also alleged the defendant, who is no longer a police officer, deleted one of two Facebook accounts he had, to cover his tracks.

During a police interview in 2022, Mr Rippon said, the officer claimed to have sent some messages because he was bored, and others in "panic mode" because he wanted to fix things with his wife after she became aware of the contact.

The trial continues.