The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Police officer who faked own assault avoids jail
COURT: Fife sergeant tried to frame estranged wife – and now faces dismissal
The wife of a disgraced police sergeant who tried to frame her by headbutting a door and claiming she punched him has hit out after he avoided jail.
Barry Murphy, 40, was in police uniform when he started hurting himself at his former home in Dunfermline in April, yet told police colleagues it was his estranged partner Sheryl Higgins who had committed the assault.
However, his plan unravelled when it emerged a teenager had filmed the ham-acting antics on her mobile phone.
Footage shows Murphy yelling “you just hit me, I cannot believe you just hit me” when there was no one close to him at the time.
Murphy, who was convicted of three offences at Dunfermline Sheriff Court including an assault on Ms Higgins, now faces losing his job after being placed on a community payback order with 275 hours of unpaid work.
He was also made subject to a five-year non-harassment order to protect his wife.
Ms Higgins, who is off work and receiving counselling, said she does not believe the punishment fits the crime.
She told a national newspaper: “He made our lives hell and made me scared in my own home.
“His performance was just so pathetic, childish, and quite frankly shocking to watch. He accused me but the officers soon realised who the real victim was.”
Ms Higgins accused Murphy of controlling behaviour and also described how her relationship developed after their marriage in 2014.
She said: “I became more and more isolated. He was so controlling and would make it difficult for me to go out and see anyone.
“He would order me about the house and I literally had to do everything.
“I was frightened of him because he would threaten to have the kids taken off me – and I believed everything he said because he was in the police.”
Ms Higgins and the girl who took the video gave evidence during Murphy’s four-day trial and she recalled the moment Murphy faked the “assault”.
“I explained I’d asked him several times to stop scaring the kids but he didn’t, so I dialled 999 – only for him to go nuts and start bashing his head against the door and punching himself in the eye unbelievably hard.
“My stomach sank when I realised what he was up to.”
Sheriff Charles Macnair, who sentenced Murphy, conceded the behaviour in relation to the fake assault claim was “particularly concerning” but felt the community payback order was appropriate in the circumstances.
A policeman for 14 years based in Edinburgh, Murphy is being reported to Alan Spiers, the Assistant Chief Constable for Professionalism and Assurance, and his career is expected to come to an end.