Stalker WPC who hacked Twitter to insult victim’s wife

AN obsessed policewoman hacked into a man’s social media accounts to post slurs about his wife, a court was told yesterday.

Ashley Boyd, 26, became fixated with Kevin O’Connor and posed as him on Facebook, telling his friends he was unhappy in his marriage.

She also changed his Facebook relationship status to ‘single’ and posted an offensive tweet about his wife Rhona from his Twitter account. In an attempt to divert the blame she had a friend give a false statement to police confessing to writing the tweet.

Boyd met the couple while working at Boots with Mrs O’Connor. In January 2014 when serving Mr O’Connor at the store, Boyd told him she knew his wife and hinted that a number of her colleagues ‘fancied’ him.

Boyd used the same gym as Mr O’Connor and told a friend she had a ‘fancy for him’. She said she went to the gym knowing he would be there. The court heard that she appeared to have become ‘fixated’ with him, although there was ‘absolutely no romantic or sexual relationship’ between them.

Boyd joined the police in 2015 but resigned from the force in December 2016.

Mr O’Connor was on holiday in June 2016 when his sister texted Pleaded guilty: Ashley Boyd him to say his Facebook details had been changed to say he was single. He also received a text from a colleague asking if someone had hacked into his account after she had a ‘ strange’ conversation with him on Facebook.

The colleague claimed Mr O’Connor had said he was unhappy in his marriage. Two other colleagues made similar claims of being told his marriage was under strain.

Prosecutor Andrew Beadsworth told Glasgow Sheriff Court: ‘ Mr O’Connor was concerned and angry. Efforts made by him to delete the Facebook account were unsuccessful because Boyd had changed the password and linked email address to the account.’

When Mr O’Connor returned home he discovered his email and Twitter account had also been hacked.

One tweet from his account read ‘wouldn’t want to go near that’ and the hashtag ‘wife’.

Mr Beadsworth said: ‘ The comment was posted next to several pictures of a television character whom it was assumed was meant to be Mrs O’Connor.’

Mr O’Connor informed the police, who investigated the IP address used to access his Facebook account, leading them to Boyd’s mobile number.

When Boyd’s phones were examined, a text was discovered confirming she had managed to change Mr O’Connor’s Facebook password.

The court heard Boyd persuaded a friend to make a false statement to police admitting posting the tweet because it would be ‘ devastating’ for her job to have been found out.

Mr Beadsworth said: ‘ Boyd collected her friend and drove her to and from Shettleston police office.’

But the friend later explained she had agreed to ‘take the blame in an effort to ensure Boyd evaded any responsibility’.

Boyd, of Moodiesburn, North Lanarkshire, pleaded guilty to causing the couple ‘fear and alarm’ by stalking, between June and September last year.

She also admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice. She will be sentenced next month.