Ex-officer guilty of indecent assaults sentenced

Paul Harold was sentenced to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years

A former police officer has been given a suspended jail sentence, after being found guilty of indecently assaulting a teenage girl.

Paul Harold, 47, arrested the 15-year-old, who was vulnerable, in May 1997 for shoplifting in Newcastle-under-Lyme, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

The former Staffordshire Police officer wrote his phone number on the back of her hand, contacted her at the care home where she was staying, and took her once to his home where he indecently assaulted her.

Harold was convicted of two counts of indecent assault. He has been sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years.

Harold was an officer for nine months between October 1996 and June 1997 when he resigned, the force has said.