‘Private sex video illegally destroyed’
APRIVATE video of a married South Wales policewoman having “consensual sex” with another officer was illegally destroyed after it was seized by detectives from her husband, a court has heard.
PC Stephen Smith, 32, allegedly had the video of his estranged wife, PC Catherine Louise Taylor, 31, on his iPad after she began an affair with another police officer.
Merthyr Crown Court heard the tape emerged after PC Taylor lodged a formal complaint that she was being harassed by her husband over her relationship with fellow officer PC Andrew Gibbons.
A jury heard that her husband’s iPad with the tape showing her having “consensual sex” was confiscated by investigating police officers. But the private video, along with everything else on the Apple device, was wiped clean after being seized.
PC Taylor admitted the sex tape was “embarrassing” – but she denied she was to blame for destroying it.
Her husband is on trial for perverting the course of justice accused of remotely wiping the devices within half an hour of being released on bail.
Father-of-one Smith denies wiping the tape, and the court was told his wife may have accessed his remote Wi-fi to get rid of it herself.
Defending barrister Timothy told PC Taylor: “There was a video of you having consensual sex on the iPad.
“Knowing there was going to be potentially embarrassing sexual material on Stephen Smith’s Apple gadgets, did you do a remote wipe?”
PC Taylor replied: “No. The video was on my own phone, which I had given in. He had forwarded it to me.”
The jury was not told which of the officers PC Taylor was having consensual sex with on the tape.
The trial heard the couple were regular broadband users at their home. After their split, Smith allegedly remotely changed their Sky broadband code to “WHOREIN4”.
The court heard that a few days later Smith changed it again to “WATCHINGU”.
The couple had been married for five years before their split in early 2014. After the breakup PC Taylor changed the locks of the family home and secured a non-molestation order against Smith from the courts in March 2014 after alleging he turned up with a knife.
She told the jury she hadn’t wanted to call in police at first because “I was trying to protect him and his job.
“It was a massive deal to ring the police. We were both officers. I had taken so much abuse. I did not want it to go this far.
“But I was afraid of him. He was not leaving me alone. He was spoken to at work about his behaviour. He was not listening. He was still trying to frighten me.”
She denied she and PC Gibbons had together “set up” Smith by giving a false statement to the police.
Prosecutor Owen Williams said that when her husband was arrested, his Apple iPhone and iPad were confiscated before he was released on bail in the early hours of April 1. But the court heard that within half an hour, both devices were remotely wiped clean to destroy any evidence on them.
Mr Williams said: “The remote wipes were initiated using Wi-fi internet connection at the defendant’s address where he was living with his parents.”
Smith, of Dukestown, Tredegar, denies two charges of perverting the course of justice.