CPS News Brief

Ex-Bedfordshire PC sentenced for sexual offences

An Ex-Bedfordshire Police Constable, Mohammad Arshad, 35, was today sentenced at St Albans Crown Court to 15 years for 17 sexual offences against teenagers, including one offence of rape, several of sexual activity with a child, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and meeting a child following sexual grooming. The offences were in relation to 12 teenage girls.

Amanda Sawetz, Senior Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service said,

“Mohammad Arshad, formerly a Police Constable for Bedfordshire Police, groomed young and vulnerable girls, approached them through their friends and their social networks and systematically offered them money in exchange for sexual favours.

“The jury heard that his modus operandi was to make contact with the young girls on social media through Blackberry messenger, Facebook or Whatsapp. He gave the name of ‘Waz’, sometimes lying about his age, saying that he was 17 or 26 years old. He would sometimes use the fact that he was a police officer to gain the girls’ trust but would reveal quite quickly to each of them his sexual intentions. On one occasion he raped a 14 year old girl he had taken ­­for a drive.

“We would like to thank all the young girls who gave evidence in this case and supported the prosecution. They did nothing wrong and were preyed upon by Arshad who used their innocence and vulnerability to commit his criminal acts.”

Convicted mother sentenced for murder of her son

A woman has been sentenced to life imprisonment after pleading guilty to the murder of her baby son at their home in Camber, East Sussex, in August 2003.

Lesley Dunford pleaded guilty to killing seven month old Harley at a hearing in March 2016. She is already serving a seven year prison term after being convicted of the manslaughter of her eldest daughter, Lucy, who was two and a half years old when she died in February 2004.

Today (Friday 15 April), she was sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to serve a minimum of 13 years.

Senior Crown Prosecutor in the CPS South East Complex Casework Unit, Libby Clark, said:

“Lesley Dunford has lied for many years about what happened to her son, before finally confessing the truth to prison staff in 2014. This was a terrible crime - her confession clearly stated that she deliberately suffocated her son whilst he was face down in his cot.

“Despite being convicted in 2012 of the manslaughter of her eldest daughter, Dunford still kept her silence over Harley’s death. She showed no remorse for over a decade by maintaining her claims that she had found him in his cot and that he was not breathing, when the truth was that she had murdered him.”

Former police officer sentenced for preying on domestic abuse victims for sexual gratification

Michael McMillan, a former Merseyside police officer has been sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for seven counts of misconduct in public office.

Mark Auty, Specialist Prosecutor in the Crown Prosecution Service, Special Crime Division, said:

“Michael McMillan abused his position as a police officer by targeting seven domestic abuse victims for his own sexual gratification over a period of three years.

“His role should have been to support victims of domestic abuse who had already shown great courage in coming forward. Instead, he exploited their vulnerabilities and betrayed their trust.

“McMillan inundated the victims with indecent messages and photographs and in some instances, encouraged the victims to meet him and engage in sexual activity.

“Evidence including texts, Whatsapp messages and social media messages showed that he bombarded the victims almost immediately after first meeting them. One victim received over 900 text messages in 13 months.

“This case represents an appalling abuse of power but today’s sentence proves that no-one is above the law.”