Ex-West Mercia PC claims ‘sex life’ message sent to revenge porn victim was 'everyday banter'

Former West Mercia Police Constable Mark Cranfield, 52, denies three counts of misconduct while in public office and a computer misuse offence, after naked images of the woman and a video of her stripping and engaging in a sexual act were found on his work phone in 2021.

Prosecutors allege the misconduct included sending the woman a social media friend request shortly after she submitted the images and gave a statement at a police station in Shropshire in 2018, and following up with further electronic messages months later, saying his sex life with his wife “had gone out of the window”.

Giving evidence in the second week of a trial at Birmingham Crown Court, Cranfield said he did not know whose phone number he had sent copies of the images to via WhatsApp shortly after the woman retracted her complaint to police.

Denying claims that he had been “titillated” by the video and images, he told the court that he had contacted the woman via a social media messaging app to discuss “everyday” issues.

The former constable, who was based in Ludlow, told jurors: “I have never discussed my intimate life with my wife to (the victim) at all. I never pestered (her) with any message.

“I messaged her about four or maybe five times. I saw that she was online and I just said hi. It was just normal everyday stuff.”

Describing how his wife had seen a message on the phone and had then thought he was in “some kind of relationship” with the woman, Cranfield said of the situation: “The idea of that I found really upsetting and horrifying.

“All I know is I panicked because she thought I was in a relationship. I was probably not in a good place at that point because of what my wife was thinking of me.

“I was scared because my wife thought I was doing something I should not be doing and I wasn’t.”

In response to a question posed to him in a note handed to the judge by a juror, Cranfield said he had never had an online conversation with the complainant about his sex life with his wife “at any length” but conceded that he had discussed his marital sex life being “ruined”.

“That’s just an off-hand comment during the conversation,” he said. “It was just a stupid comment. It was light-hearted banter.”

He said of the complainant: “I wish I had never messaged her. I wish she had never messaged back.”

Cranfield added that he believed he had deleted the images and video from his work phone when the revenge porn investigation was completed.

Rejecting assertions that he has acted for his own sexual pleasure, Cranfield added: “I have absolutely no sexual interest in (the victim) whatsoever.”

At the start of the trial, prosecutor Simon Rippon said Cranfield, of Bromfield, near Ludlow, was questioned about the alleged offences after his work phone was examined for reasons entirely unconnected to the case in April 2021.

During his evidence, Cranfield, who served in the police for 27 years, said the phone was seized from his locker at a time when he did not know it was going to be.

He said of the device: “I had not used it for some considerable time.

“It was broken, it wasn’t working as it should. I thought it was useless and it was locked in my locker and it stayed in there for a very long time.”

The trial continues.