Mark Cranfield, a former royal security officer from Shropshire, has been found guilty of misconduct charges for “harassing” a revenge porn victim and retaining an intimate film and nude photographs of her on his work phone.
Former Metropolitan and West Mercia Police officer Mark Cranfield sent social media messages, including one pertaining to his sexual experiences, and issued a friend request to a highly vulnerable woman, as revealed during a two-week trial.
Jurors at Birmingham Crown Court were informed that Mark Cranfield explicitly expressed his desire to the woman following her complaint and evidence submission to the police in 2018, stating, “I’m glad I got to see the pictures.”
Mark Cranfield, stationed at Ludlow police station in Shropshire, was found guilty of two charges of misconduct in a public office and an offence of unauthorised access to computer documents, including the woman’s phone number.
The accusations claimed that he engaged in inappropriate communication with the victim, communicated messages regarding his marital sexual life, and transmitted intimate videos and photographs to an untraced WhatsApp account.
The former cop was exonerated of a third misconduct charge concerning the social media friend request.
Mark Cranfield is scheduled for sentencing on February 13.
Jurors deliberated over three days before unanimously convicting the 52-year-old of three of the four offences he faced, despite his claims that he had no sexual interest in the woman and believed he had deleted the images and video, which were found on his work phone more than two years after the inquiry.
Mark Cranfield, of Bromfield, near Ludlow, denied he had been “titillated” by the video, said he had contacted the woman via a social media messaging app to discuss “everyday” issues, and had only sent further messages in panic because his wife wrongly believed he was having an affair.
In response to a question asked by a juror, Cranfield said he had never had an online conversation with the complainant about his sex life with his wife “at any length” but conceded that he had discussed his marital sex life being “ruined”.
“That’s just an off-hand comment during the conversation,” he told the jury. “It was just a stupid comment. It was light-hearted banter.”
Prosecutors said the constable misconducted himself by sending the friend request minutes after the woman left a police station, where he had downloaded video given to him as evidence.
Opening the Crown’s case last week, prosecutor Simon Rippon said the offences came to light in April 2021, when Mark Cranfield’s work phone was seized from his locker without warning for reasons entirely unconnected to the case.
Mr Rippon said two photographs of the complainant were found on the phone, with video of the woman stripping and engaging in a sexual act.
Other images of the woman wearing clothing had been deleted, the court heard.
Mr Rippon said: “The prosecution case is he (Mark Cranfield) took an improper sexual interest in her.
“The defendant, plainly acting as a police officer, started to ask very intimate questions about what she was doing and wanted her to share with him graphic details.”
The prosecutor said the complainant signed a statement and “by the time she got home about 15 minutes later” Mark Cranfield had sent her a friend request, which she declined.
The officer then sent further messages “pestering” the woman, asking how she was and saying his sex life with his wife “had gone out of the window”.
The woman then retracted her complaint relating to revenge porn, Mr Rippon said, because “she just didn’t want to deal with this defendant any more”.
The jury of four women and eight men was told Mark Cranfield’s wife found out in 2019 that he had been messaging the woman and he “begged” the complainant to tell his spouse that “nothing had happened”.
Mark Cranfield also deleted one of two Facebook accounts he had, to cover his tracks.
The trial heard he had forwarded the images to another phone via WhatsApp shortly after the woman retracted her complaint to police.
A statement read to the trial during the defence case said Mark Cranfield, who was a constable for 27 years, spent the majority of his service with the Met on royal protection duties, and had also been an armed officer with the West Mercia force.
Following the verdicts, Mark Cranfield sobbed audibly in the dock as his barrister, Liz Power, applied for the case to be adjourned for pre-sentence reports.
Judge Kerry Maylin then asked if “bearing in mind what I can see” Mark Cranfield had someone to support him, and was told the officer remains married but did not want his wife to attend court due to the stress of the case.
Granting unconditional bail, Judge Maylin said: “The fact that I am adjourning for a pre-sentence report is not an indication of the likely sentence.
“The case law indicates that the most likely outcome is one of an immediate custodial sentence.”
UPDATE 15.02.25
A former royal security officer who harassed and communicated with a revenge porn victim, while retaining an intimate film and nude photographs of her on his phone, has been sentenced to eight months in prison.
Former Met and West Mercia Police officer Mark Cranfield transmitted social media communications, including one pertaining to his sexual experiences, to an extremely vulnerable woman, as presented during a two-week trial.
At Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Kerry Maylin sentenced the 52-year-old married man to imprisonment, characterising the acts as a “grave betrayal” of the woman’s faith in law enforcement.
The judge stated that Cranfield, who made a friend request to the woman shortly after she exited a police station where he had obtained a video provided as evidence, had a “exemplary” career until the misconduct commenced in 2018.
The woman had withdrawn her complaint and cut off contact with the police because Cranfield made her feel uncomfortable, the judge said.
Judge Maylin told Cranfield, who appeared in the dock with his head bowed for much of his sentencing hearing: “She told this court that you seemed more interested in the content of the photos and the video of an intimate nature than in supporting (her) and investigating the allegations that she made.
“You were exploring whether you could have an intimate relationship with her, be that in person or online.”
The fact that the images had been forwarded by Cranfield to an unidentified phone number had had “a marked impact” on the victim, the judge said.
She continued: “Misconduct in a public office committed by police officers is always a grave betrayal of trust.
“Punishment and deterrence are important elements in cases such as this.
“You have now expressed remorse but I am afraid, doing my public duty, I cannot accede to the submission to suspend your sentence.”
Cranfield, who was based at Ludlow police station in Shropshire, was convicted in December of two counts of misconduct in public office and an offence of accessing computer records, including the woman’s phone number, without authorisation.
Jurors were told Cranfield made his attraction to the woman obvious when she made a complaint and provided evidence to police, smirking as he told her: “I’m glad I got to see the pictures.”
The court heard he then had inappropriate contact with the victim, sent her messages about his sex life, and forwarded intimate videos and images to a WhatsApp account that has yet to be traced.
As a police officer, he shouldn’t have done it, he overstepped the line
Defence counsel Liz Power
The former officer was cleared of a third misconduct offence relating to the social media friend request.
Cranfield told his trial that he had no sexual interest in the woman and believed he had deleted the images and video, which were found on his work phone more than two years after the inquiry.
Cranfield, of Bromfield, near Ludlow, denied he had been “titillated” by the video, said he had contacted the woman via a social media messaging app to discuss “everyday” issues and had only sent further messages in a panic because his wife wrongly believed he was having an affair.
Prosecutor Simon Rippon told the trial that the offences came to light in April 2021, when Cranfield’s work phone was seized from his locker without warning for reasons entirely unconnected to the case.
Mr Rippon said two photographs of the complainant were found on the phone, with a video of the woman stripping and engaging in a sexual act.
Other images of the woman wearing clothing had been deleted, the court heard.
A statement read to the trial during the defence case said Cranfield, who was a constable for 27 years, spent the majority of his service with the Met on royal protection duties and had also been an armed officer with the West Mercia force.
Offering mitigation prior to sentence, defence barrister Liz Power said Cranfield was a hardworking family man who had been stacking shelves at Tesco “to add a little bit more to the family income”.
Ms Power added: “This was a man who, for whatever the reason, was clearly under some difficulties in his relationship with his wife and found solace in contacting someone else.
“As a police officer, he shouldn’t have done it, he overstepped the line.”
If you or anyone you know have been affected by the people highlighted in this article, then please report those individuals to the Police on 101 (999 if an emergency) or visit their online resources for further details of the options for reporting a crime. You can also make a report at Crimestoppers should you wish to be completely anonymous. There is help available on our support links page.