Jail for Lancashire PC who targeted domestic abuse victims for own ends

Det Insp Eugene Swift said Coathup's "behaviour will appal serving officers up and down the country"

A police officer who resigned after admitting he was targeting women who had reported domestic abuse "for his own sexual purposes" has been jailed.

Darren Coathup, 39, met the two women as part of his duties as a serving PC in Lancashire Police, the force said.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of being a holder of a public office who wilfully neglected to perform his duty and later resigned from the force.

Coathup was sentenced to two years in prison at Manchester Crown Court.

Lancashire Police said its anti-corruption unit launched a covert investigation into Coathup's activities in 2021 while he was "working as a response constable" in its East Division.

Officers found he "posed a risk to a vulnerable female victim of crime" and he was arrested and suspended from duty, the force said.

'One too many'

The woman told police Coathup had attended her home in April 2021 after she reported a domestic-related incident and he went on to exchange messages with her.

She told officers the messages "quickly became flirtatious and sexualised", a force representative said.

She said Coathup exchanged sexually-explicit images with her and they later had sex.

A subsequent examination of Coathup's phones identified a second woman, who he had met after she reported domestic abuse.

She told officers Coathup sent her flirtatious and sexualised messages and a sexual image of himself.

The force representative said Coathup was later charged with two counts of being a holder of a public office who wilfully neglected to perform his duty or wilfully misconducted himself, which he admitted in December.

He then resigned from the force, but a later misconduct hearing found he would have been dismissed if he had still been a serving officer and should be added to the policing barred list.

Speaking after sentencing, Det Insp Eugene Swift said Coathup "deliberately targeted vulnerable crime victims for his own sexual purposes".

"This is not a case where the victims came forward and made a complaint to us; at that time, they may not have even realised what Darren Coathup had done was a crime," he said.

He said it was the force's own covert operation that identified he "may pose a risk to vulnerable women", adding: "I know his behaviour will appal serving officers up and down the country."

"Although offences like this are extremely rare, for Lancashire Constabulary, one is one too many and detracts from the hard work and commitment to protecting the public that our police officers and staff demonstrate during every minute of every day," he added.

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