Policeman Used Cctv To Find Wife With Lover

Policeman used CCTV to find wife with lover 'before throwing her naked in the street'

A policeman attacked his wife before shoving her naked out of the front door after he scoured CCTV footage to find out she had an affair with his best friend, a court heard.

Using his position as a crime prevention officer, PC Andrew Liptrot, 47, seized camera footage from two pubs where he suspected the couple had met. He then took the DVDs home and examined the footage in the hope of catching his air stewardess wife and her lover on film.

He became obsessed with her infidelity, allegedly beating her three times after spying on her private text messages using a device on his personal computer, the jury heard. On Monday PC Liptrot appeared in court to deny three charges of assaulting his wife, claiming the injuries suffered were from a consensual bondage session the previous night.

Peter Davies, prosecuting, said trouble began when Liptrot discovered his wife had left the car in Chorley, Lancs, following a night out.He said: 'The following Monday he was more annoyed when he found her mobile phone and a text message from one of her friends which revealed she had told that friend she did not love Mr Liptrot anymore.'

The jealous officer confronted his wife in the kitchen and there was a scuffle during which she fell and hurt her back.Preston Crown Court heard that days later, while Mrs Liptrot was on a long-haul trip to Seattle, her husband discovered his wife was having an affair with his best friend Darren Watson.On February 26 he decided to visit two pubs, Applejax and Sir Henry Tates in Chorley, where he believed the lovers had met ten days earlier.

Mr Davies said: 'Despite being an off-duty crime prevention officer in Accrington and not being involved in any ongoing police investigation he told the management of the establishments that he was investigating serious offences. 'As a result, and trusting him to be a police officer doing his job, they supplied him with hours of DVD footage.'



Mr Davies added: 'Those discs were never taken to a police station. Instead they went straight to his home so he could watch them to see if he could catch his wife and her lover together.' The father-of-two also installed specialised software on his computer so he could access her mobile phone texts.

Mr Davies said: 'Although Darren Watson was a friend and well known to him, he started to use the police computer at work in order to find out more information, perhaps private, perhaps incriminating, about Mr Watson. 'All police officers are permitted to access the police computer but only as part of the process of conducting investigations. They are not supposed to use them for private matters.'

On March 18 Liptrot, returned from work to their marital home in Lostock Hall, Preston, where he again confronted his wife about the affair. The court heard he grabbed her and removed her dressing gown so that she was naked before forcing her out of the front door. Karen Liptrot told the court her husband exploded with rage after she failed to explain where she had been from leaving the Henry Tate pub and entering Applejax nightclub.

Giving evidence, the 38-year-old said he began quizzing her about the fling and ripped the dressing gown from her body. 'I had nothing underneath,' she said. 'He was holding my wrists and I was nervous. I was scared. He grabbed my arm and called me a s**g and a w***e. 'He was dragging me down the hallway by my ankles and dragged me over the front doorstep. He told me to stand up so everyone could see what a w***e I was.'

Prosecutor Mr Davies told the court that Liptrot eventually allowed his wife back into the house and ordered her into the bedroom where he attacked her again. He swung her round by the hair, hit her in the left buttock and struck her on the temple but stopped the attack when she started to cry.

Six days later Liptrot attacked her again when she refused to have sex with him and pushed her on to the floor. The following day, Mrs Liptrot took her two children to her parents' house and seeing their daughter battered and bruised they immediately called the police. Liptrot, who had been a police officer for ten years but resigned this month, was arrested and denied attacking his wife.

Rick Holland, defending, suggested the injuries suffered by Mrs Liptrot were caused by a kinky bondage session the night before.

SHARE THIS