Corrupt British dickless Tracy who seized CCTV film of a street bust-up to be used for blackmail is jailed for 22 months

A corrupt policewoman who seized CCTV of a street fight in an attempt to blackmail footballer Steven Gerrard was jailed for 22 months today.

Helen Jones, 32, a former Pc with Merseyside Police, took the footage by 'flashing her warrant card' to the manageress of a bank which was intended to be used to extort money from the Liverpool star.

The film showed friends of Gerrard, the then-England captain, involved in a bar brawl near his home in Formby, Merseyside, which spilled out on to the street.

Local businessman Paul Lloyd, 35, claimed the midfielder 'threw the first punch' but, at an earlier hearing, prosecutors said the Liverpool midfielder was acting as a peacemaker on the evening of August 4 2013.

Jailing her today Judge Baker told the defendant: 'This was deliberate and calculated misconduct in a public office.

'You deliberately created a false impression in the mind of the bank manager that you were investigating a criminal offence.

'In fact you were on a mission to obtain that matter so that you could put it either directly or through an intermediary, who would use it for his own ends, which were nothing whatsover to do with a criminal investigation.'

Judge Baker said while Jones may not have known who, eventually, the CCTV would be passed to or for what purpose, it had caused Liverpool's Gerrard and his friend Lee McPartland 'serious personal embarrassment', and damaged the reputation of Merseyside Police.

Jones made no reaction as she was jailed, though she had wept earlier when her lawyer recounted some of the 'trauma' she had faced while on duty as a police officer.

Jones, formerly of Formby, now living in Chatham, Kent, did not deny improperly using her status as a police officer to get the CCTV and admitted misconduct in a public office but claimed she was doing a favour for a friend.

But during a three day hearing, known as a trial of issue last November, Judge Stuart Baker said he found her account 'wholly implausible', ruling Jones acted for 'base motives' and described her as a 'practised and persistent liar'.

He said the CCTV was secured to use it 'possibly as a lever to cause Mr Gerrard to pay money to suppress it or, at the very least, to use it in a way which would potentially cause embarrassment, as has in fact occurred'.

Jones, who joined the police in 2005, was off-duty and on a career break when she went to the Lloyds branch in Formby and took the footage, which the prosecution claimed was for 'criminal purposes'.

Earlier the court heard Jones got her hands on the CCTV to allow Mr Lloyd or another person, to use it as a 'lever' to cause Steven Gerrard to pay money to suppress it or use it in a way to cause him potential embarrassment.

Mr Lloyd claimed Gerrard and his friends assaulted him, and following the incident the footballer and his friend Mr McPartland, faced 'demands and threats' amid an atmosphere of 'unpleasantness' and 'menace' with claims of money being offered by the press for the footage.

Gerrard was later named in legal papers lodged by Mr Lloyd at the High Court claiming damages following the disturbance. The civil case named Gerrard, his wife, Alex, and Mr McPartland, as defendants.

But Richard Howarth, prosecuting, said Mr Lloyd, who gave evidence at the earlier hearing, was 'an untruthful witness who sought to exploit his involvement in this incident and he maintained his deceit in the witness box'.

The prosecutor added: 'There is still no extant proceedings in the High Court, which given his performance in the witness box, is hardly surprising.'

Mr Howarth said the actual CCTV, which has never been made public, was a 'side issue' in Jones' admitted offence of misconduct.

Gerrard's lawyers and Liverpool FC became involved and police called in with their investigation leading to Jones's arrest and her resignation from the police.

Roderick Jones, mitigating for Jones, said: 'We are dealing with a single event in which a serving police officer on a career break took a decision to essentially, catastrophically bend the rules to breaking point and in doing so, broke them.

Original report here

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