A policewoman bombarded her ex-boyfriend with abusive emails, texts and phone calls during a ‘relentless’ stalking campaign.
A court was informed that Sue Thorpe, employed as a detective at Northumbria Police, subjected surf instructor Barry Henderson, aged 58, to harassment and verbal abuse following their breakup.
She turned up at his workplace and told lies to his family and friends, alleging he beat up pregnant women and had cheated on her.
During one notable incident, the 44-year-old Thorpe publicly embarrassed Mr. Henderson at a cafe where he was dining with a friend. She yelled derogatory remarks about him across the establishment, exclaiming, ‘He’s a sh****r… don’t trust him.’
Despite initially refuting the accusations of stalking and unauthorized access to the police national computer to gather information on Mr. Henderson post their separation, Thorpe, a detective constable, was found guilty by a jury in under two hours.
Judge Amanda Rippon bailed Thorpe, of Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear, but warned she could be jailed when she is sentenced next month. ‘You should understand these are serious offences,’ the judge said. ‘The custody threshold is passed. A prison sentence is not likely but it is possible.’
Newcastle Crown Court heard the couple met on dating site Plenty of Fish in 2014 and soon set up home together.
But, the jury was told, after they decided to start a family together Thorpe suffered two miscarriages and underwent unsuccessful IVF.
Sue Thorpe, 44, bombarded her ex-boyfriend with abusive emails, texts and calls
Surf instructor Barry Henderson, 58, ended his relationship with Thorpe in 2020
In 2019, their relationship started to fall apart after a series of arguments. In text messages sent before they split, Thorpe moaned about having ‘zero sex’ and complained about always cleaning up after Mr Henderson.
When he decided to break it off, in July 2020, Thorpe embarked on a year-long campaign of harassment, calling, texting and leaving him abusive messages, accusing him of cheating on her, up to 40 times a day.
Matthew Hopkins, prosecuting, said: ‘Over the course of a year she turned up at his place of work. She sent him abusive e-mails, text messages and voicemails. She accused him of cheating on her and attacking her.’
Max Holford, who worked for Mr Henderson as a surf teacher at Longsands Beach, in Tyneside, told the jury that, on May 6, 2021, Thorpe turned up and ‘started saying some nasty things about Barry’.
‘She told me he beat up pregnant women, that he is generally violent towards women, that he was having trouble with the council and he blamed her for that trouble,’ Mr Holford said.
Thorpe is suspended from the Northumbria force.
Detective Chief Inspector Graeme Dodds, of Northumbria Police’s professional standards department, said: ‘Her actions were completely unacceptable.
‘We can confirm misconduct proceedings are being progressed in relation to the individual, who remains suspended from duty.’
