Detective ‘spied on her ex using police computers’
AN ‘obsessed’ woman detective used confidential police computer systems to spy on her firearms officer ex-lover and his new partner, a court was told.
After Detective Constable Ciara Campbell broke up with police marksman Stuart Swarbrick, a ‘large number’ of photographs of his new partner, a civilian police worker, were found on her iPad, a jury was told.
Examination of the computer network revealed the 43-year-old had carried out 200 searches on PC Swarbrick over a 12-month period with a further 50 on his new lover, Alice Coxhead.
However, the court was told that Campbell maintains she was simply trying to ensure she did not bump into or confront her ex or his new partner at work and wanted to ‘just get on with her job’.
Geoffrey Lowe, prosecuting, said Campbell’s relationship with PC Swarbrick ended in 2013 after which he started seeing Miss Coxhead. All three served with Lancashire Police. ‘ The defendant makes it clear she found the break-up of that relationship very traumatic and what seems to have happened is as a result she has embarked on an obsessive and irrational course of conduct,’ he added.
The jury at Liverpool Crown Court heard she initially accessed information about a female friend following a harassment dispute involving another woman.
David Temkin, defending, said the searches relating to her friend were done for ‘ a police purpose’ and that she had reason to believe what she was doing was ‘perfectly acceptable’.
Campbell, of Preston, Lancashire, denies three counts of unlawfully obtaining personal data and eight offences of unauthorised access to computer material. The trial continues.