Police officer ‘ruined his life’ by stealing phones and computers
ONE-TIME HERO ENDED UP BEING ACCUSED OVER INDECENT IMAGES OF CHILDREN
A HERO policeman who ‘threw it all away’ by stealing phones and computers seized during investigations found himself accused of being a paedophile – and has now been locked up.
Steven Halliwell, 43, was jailed for 12 months by a judge who told him ‘your personal life and career is now essentially in tatters.’
While on bail for three years he has been banned by social services from staying overnight at his home with his two children.
His wife was in tears in the public gallery as he was led to the cells.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that Halliwell had twice been commended for his bravery – but threw his career away while working in the high-tech crime unit of Greater Manchester Police.
Halliwell, of Lee Avenue, Great Lever, Bolton, admitted stealing 22 electronic items including 16 mobile phones, iPad minis, MacBook Airs and a laptop between July 21, 2011 and February 9, 2016.
He resigned from the police force after also pleading guilty to four offences of making indecent images in all three categories of seriousness involving a total of 421 indecent photographs.
Halliwell, who had been with the force for 12 years, had hundreds of indecent images of children from some of the items but a judge has now accepted that was incidental to the theft.
Judge Andrew Menary accepted Halliwell did not have an unhealthy sexual interest in children but he automatically had to order him to sign on the Sex Offenders Register for seven years.
The court was told that Halliwell had made at least £4,800 from selling the mobile phones and computer equipment but it has cost him ‘hundreds of thousands of pounds’ in lost wages and pension.
The judge said: “It is very sad indeed to see someone like you in the dock in a crown court, someone who has performed commendable work as a police officer... the financial situation of your family has been damaged and dramatically reduced.”
Neville Biddle, prosecuting, said that Halliwell’s job was to examine mobile communication devices seized during investigations, some relating to indecent images of children.
In February 2016 a virus was suspected on their computer network. This led to investigations which discovered a USB hard drive containing two discs at Halliwell’s workplace.
In a folder on it indecent images of children were found and a large number of deleted phone examination reports which had overwhelmingly been undertaken by Halliwell. The images believed to have resulted from his phone examinations were found in a folder.
His car and home were searched and among a large amount of computer and electronic equipment was a tower computer system on the landing. It contained four hard discs and examination revealed 291 indecent images of children.
The court heard that the indecent images had been created while Halliwell was deleting them from seized phones and laptops.
Twelve of the stolen items were found at his home, four had been sold to a friend of his wife’s, and he had sold others on Ebay.
He made no comment when interviewed but in his basis of plea denied having any sexual interest in children.
His barrister, Michael Brady, said that he had had a well-paid job and the prospect of a handsome pension and he had thrown it away ‘to enrich himself to a relatively modest extent.’
He stressed that he had no sexual interest in children and the images were created while he was deleting material from the equipment.
The lawyer said: “He has lost hundreds of thousands of pounds in terms of income and pension.”
He said Halliwell was now selfemployed repairing telephones and computers.