Detective charged with forgery

A DETECTIVE has been charged with forging a witness statement in a murder investigation.

Detective Constable Robert Ferrow, of Hampshire Police, is accused of completing and signing the statement as part of the investigation into the death of mother-of-five Lucy-Anne Rushton in Andover in June 2019.

He has been charged with making a false instrument with intent for it to be accepted as genuine, under the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, following an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

A spokesman for the police watchdog said: ‘It is alleged DC Ferrow completed and signed the statement of a witness during the investigation into the murder of Lucy-Anne Rushton.

‘Our investigation began in August 2019 and was completed in July 2020.

‘At the investigation’s conclusion, we referred a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which made the decision to charge the officer.’

Ferrow has been called to call appear at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court on December 18.

Shaun Dyson, 28, was jailed for life to serve a minimum of 17 years at Winchester Crown Court for the murder of his estranged wife at the family house in Andover, Hampshire, while children were at the property.

Simon Jones, prosecuting, said that Dyson had become ‘enraged’ by a phone call 30-year-old Ms Rushton received from a man she had been in a relationship with.