Police officer guilty of harassing ex-partner
ACHESHIRE police officer was caught by a family friend putting intimate photos of an ex-partner on a swingers website.
In 2016, Alan Friday shared photos ‘of a private nature’ to a family friend on the website called Fab Swingers.
Friday and his former partner had separated the same year after which the police officer, of the Cheshire and North Wales Police Dogs Unit, said he “wouldn’t do it again”.
However, three years later, Friday messaged the same family friend on the website, before moving the conversation to Snapchat where he sent another photo of his former partner.
After being “called out” by the friend, who was not named in court, the former police officer then bombarded his ex-partner and her family with phone calls and begged “I’m going to lose my job”.
The 42-year-old Cheshire Police officer was suspended from the police dogs unit last year after being charged in May.
Chris Maloney, prosecuting, explained the offence dated between December 12 and December 15, 2019.
The charge mainly related to
December 14 of the same year.
He said Friday was using the dating website Fab Swingers and using pictures of his former partner on there without her knowledge.
Mr Maloney explained that the website is ‘location-based’ and contacts users nearby.
The court heard how a family friend was also using the website and started exchanging messages with Friday, who was pretending to be a female.
During the exchange, he sent the family friend photos of his ex-partner, some of a private nature.
Friday’s former partner was then informed about the images, who confronted the defendant.
The court heard how Friday said he “wouldn’t do that again”, but repeated his actions once more in 2019.
The same family friend started using the site again and began a conversation with someone he believed to be a female and the conversation moved to Snapchat, where Friday again sent photographs of his former partner.
When called out for a second time, Friday contacted his former partner saying “I’ve done something wrong, I’m going to lose my job, the dogs will be taken off me. I’ve done something wrong and I don’t know what to do.”
The former partner asked Friday, of Yew Tree Road, Halewood, near Liverpool, not to contact her again.
Mr Maloney explained Friday sent more e-mails, to which the former partner responded asking him not to contact her.
In one he wrote: “This person is going to the police please, please, I’m begging you.”
Mr Maloney told the court that between 3.11pm on December 14 and 7.08pm the same day, Friday called his former partner and her family members a total of 52 times.
After police were called, they attended his home address and Friday was arrested, giving no reply to officers.
He was released but following further enquiries, re-attended on May 15 2020, this time submitting a prepared statement in interview denying the allegations. Friday has no previous convictions.
Julian Goode, defending, stressed that while mentioned by the prosecutor, the current charge covers only the incidents in December 2019 – not those in 2016.
The court heard how the author of a probation report referenced “controlling behaviour”, a “complete lack of victim empathy” as he “sees himself as the victim” and said there was “a risk of serious harm to the complainant and others in future relationships”.
Mr Goode explained that the conversation had begun by talking about the events in 2016.
He said: “He would accept, having reflected on the pre-sentence report, he didn’t articulate himself in the manner he would have liked.”
Friday was found guilty of harassment after a trial at Wigan and Leigh Magistrates’ Court.
District Judge Mark Hadfield handed Friday a two-year community order with 20 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement Days and 100 hours of unpaid work.
A two-year restraining order was also imposed, preventing Friday from contacting his former partner.