Disgraced cop who had sex with domestic abuse victim loses part of his pension

A corrupt police officer who abused his position to have sex with a domestic abuse victim and send an explicit image to another victim of crime has had his pension docked.

Darren Coathup was jailed for two years in February 2023 after he admitted misconduct in connection with the two women. Now Police and Crime Commissioner Clive Grunshaw has punished the former East Lancs response officer further, by deducting 65 per cent of his pension for five years when he reaches pension age.

In 2021, Coathup visited a woman at her home after reports of a domestic incident. She described exchanging messages with him and those messages quickly became flirtatious and sexualised. The victim described exchanging sexually explicit images with Coathup and later had sex with him. Upon arrest, Coathup's mobile phones were seized and examined, LancsLive reports.

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This led to the identification of a second victim. Further enquiries uncovered Darren Coathup had met the second 'vulnerable' victim when she had reported a domestic abuse incident. The second victim said Coathup sent her flirtatious and sexualised messages and a sexual image of himself.

In December 2022, Coathup, from Bamber Bridge, admitted two counts of being a holder of a public office who wilfully neglected to perform his duty/wilfully misconducted himself. Now, following discussions with legal experts and the Anti Corruption Unit, Mr Grunshaw has ordered the officer to forfeit a share of his pension.

He said: "As Commissioner I will continue to support the Constabulary on policing standards and the processes they have in place to spot the signs of anyone abusing their position, remove them from the streets and put them behind bars. When we can go further, and take steps to ensure police officers who break the trust of colleagues and the people of Lancashire, forfeit the fullest amount of their pension we can, we will take absolutely every available step to do so."

"This decision sends a clear message that any form of misconduct, especially those that exploit the vulnerable, will not be tolerated within Lancashire. Pension forfeiture is a significant step and shows how those who are entrusted with the duty to serve and protect are held to the highest standards of integrity and accountability and where they fall short of these standards, will be tackled with every tool we have."

Sam Mackenzie, Deputy Chief Constable for Lancashire Constabulary said: "Offending of such an appalling nature must have wide reaching consequences and it is right that the decision has been taken to subject Coathup to this pension forfeiture and I'm sure the public would expect us to take such a step when dealing with officers who have been convicted of criminal offences."

The forfeiture is made against the Constabulary's contributions. An officers' own contributions to the pension cannot be subject to forfeiture.