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



A policeman attacked his wife and shoved her naked out of their front door after CCTV footage showed she was having an affair with his best friend, a court heard yesterday.

PC Andrew Liptrot, 47, seized camera footage from two pubs where he suspected the couple had met before confronting his wife Karen at home.



He then grabbed the 38-year-old British Airways stewardess and ripped her dressing gown from her body, the court was told.



‘I had nothing underneath,’ Mrs Liptrot said. ‘He was holding my wrists and I was nervous. I was scared. He grabbed my arm and called me a slag and a whore.'



PC Andrew Liptrot arriving at Preston Crown Court. He denied three charges of assaulting his wife, Karen, seen here leaving court



‘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 whore I was.’



Peter Davies, prosecuting, said Liptrot, a crime prevention officer, 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, the court heard.



Mr Davies said Liptrot attacked her again six days later when she refused to have sex with him.



The following day, Mrs Liptrot took her two children to her parents’ house. They called the police.



Yesterday Liptrot, from Lostock Hall, Preston, appeared in court to deny three charges of assault.

The court heard Liptrot had been married to his wife for six years and the pair had two sons, Harry, seven, and Charlie, four. Outwardly they appeared happy but the couple’s demanding careers meant they often spent long periods apart.



Mr Davies said the trouble began when Liptrot discovered his wife had left the car in Chorley, Lancashire, 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 trip to Seattle, he used special software on his computer to access her mobile phone texts.



These revealed his wife was having an affair with his best friend, Darren Watson. On February 26 he decided to visit the Applejax bar and the Sir Henry Tate pub in Chorley, where he believed the lovers had met.



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.’



Mr Davies went on: ‘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.’



On March 18, Liptrot returned from work to their home, where he again confronted his wife about the affair before shoving her out of the front door.



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



He told her: ‘You had bought a pair of handcuffs from Ann Summers and you and your husband were involved in consensual sexual contact. You had handcuffs on your wrists and you suffered slight injuries.’



The jury was told that Liptrot, who had been a police officer for ten years but resigned this month, had earlier pleaded guilty to seven counts of misconduct in a public office relating to accessing police files and obtaining the CCTV footage.



The trial continues.

