Former police officer denies sexual interest in revenge porn victim, court told

A former Midlands police officer accused of misconduct while carrying out his job has denied having a sexual interest in a revenge porn victim. Former West Mercia Police Constable Mark Cranfield, 52, had naked images of the woman and a video of her stripping and engaging in a sex act on his work phone in 2021, a court has heard.

Prosecutors have alleged he sent the woman a social media friend request shortly after she submitted the images and gave a statement at a police station in Shropshire in 2018. And he is alleged to have told her his sex life with his wife ‘had gone out of the window’.

Giving evidence at the second week of his trial at Birmingham Crown Court, Cranfield said he did not know whose number he had sent copies of the images to on WhatsApp, shortly after the woman retracted her complaint to the police.

He denied he had been ‘titillated’ by the video and images and told the court he had contacted the woman on social media to ‘discuss everyday issues’. The former officer, who had been based in Ludlow, told jurors: “I have never discussed my intimate life with my wife to (the victim) at all.

“I never pestered (her) with any message. I messaged her about four or maybe five times. I saw that she was online and I just said hi. It was just normal everyday stuff."

Cranfield explained how his wife had seen a message on his phone and thought he was in ‘some kind of relationship’ with the woman. But the former constable said: “"The idea of that I found really upsetting and horrifying.

"All I know is I panicked because she thought I was in a relationship.I was probably not in a good place at that point because of what my wife was thinking of me. I was scared because my wife thought I was doing something I should not be doing and I wasn't."

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Cranfield denied having an online conversation with the complainant about his sex life with his wife ‘at any length’ when posed a question question by a juror on a note which had been handed to a judge.

But conceded that he had discussed his marital sex life being ‘ruined’. He said his interaction with the woman was ‘just banter’. He said: “I wish I had never messaged her. I wish she had never messaged back.”

Cranfield said he believed he had deleted the images and video from his work phone when the revenge porn investigation was completed. He rejected he acted for his own sexual pleasure,and said: “I have absolutely no sexual interest in (the victim) whatsoever.”

At the start of the trial, prosecutor Simon Rippon said Cranfield, of Bromfield, near Ludlow, was questioned about the alleged offences after his work phone was examined for reasons entirely unconnected to the case in April 2021.

During his evidence, Cranfield, who served in the police for 27 years, said the phone was seized from his locker at a time when he did not know it was going to be. He said of the device: "I had not used it for some considerable time.

"It was broken, it wasn't working as it should. I thought it was useless and it was locked in my locker and it stayed in there for a very long time."

The ex-PC denies three counts of misconduct while in public office and a computer misuse offence. The trial continues.