Former police officer jailed coercive and controlling behaviour towards a woman

A former police officer has been jailed after admitting coercive and controlling behaviour towards a woman.

Michael Harvey, 64, pleaded guilty to engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour towards the victim between December 2015 and July 2016.

Harvey, who worked as a detective in Lancashire Police’s Sexual Offenders Management Unit at the time of the offending before retiring from the Force in 2018, also previously pleaded guilty to Unauthorised Access to Computer Material.

This related to Harvey accessing police computer systems in June 2012 without a legitimate purpose. Having first met the victim by chance at the Asda in Rawtenstall, he inputted her vehicle registration into police systems in order to find out more information about her.

He further accessed police systems without a legitimate purpose in March 2013, in order to obtain the victim’s landline number.

Following that first chance meeting in May 2012, Harvey bumped into his victim at the same store in October 2012 and he approached her in the carpark.

After a brief conversation during which Harvey told her he was a police officer, she gave him her mobile number and a few days later she agreed to go on a date with him.

The victim first began to become concerned when Harvey when he said he didn’t want her to post any pictures of him on any of her social media accounts, and by 2013/14 he still hadn’t introduced her to any of his family or friends.

In 2014 Harvey stayed at the victim’s house for a week. After leaving to go home, he returned in a matter of hours and said that he no longer had his rented property and needed to stay with her.

The victim’s concerns about Harvey continued to grow, but he would pull on her heart strings by saying there were issues with his health and his mental health. He told her he was off sick from work and receiving counselling for PTSD and he was struggling with money.

Whenever the victim suggested things in the relationship weren’t right and that she wanted him out of her house or for the relationship to end, Harvey would intimate that he was going to take his own life.

In 2015, when the victim challenged Harvey about flirtatiously texting other women and asking them out for lunch, he claimed he was supporting them as victims of crime. He later called her at work and implied he was going to kill himself if she ended the relationship.

The victim reported the offences to the police in July 2022 and Harvey was arrested at his home in Eskdale, Skelmersdale, on 9^th October 2023.

Harvey had earlier pleaded guilty to coercive controlling behaviour. He was cleared of three counts of rape after a trial last year.

He appeared at Preston Session’s House today (Thursday, February 5^th) where he was jailed for 30 months in total and given a ten-year restraining order.

DC Jodie Nolan, from the East RASSO (Rape And Serious Sexual Offences) Team, said: “Harvey is a master manipulator who used empty threats and emotional blackmail to launch a calculated campaign of control over the victim.

“She has been through a harrowing ordeal throughout the relationship and I want to praise her for the strength she has shown throughout this process.

Supt Pete Reil, of our Professional Standards Department, said: “Harvey’s abhorrent behaviour has no place in policing and is not reflective of the overwhelming majority of officers who put on the uniform everyday with the aim of making a positive difference in their communities and protecting the most vulnerable in society. They will be disgusted and angered by Harvey’s conduct, as the public will understandably be.

“We are committed to protecting women and girls from all forms of harm, and we will do everything in our power to put the perpetrator before the courts – no matter who they are.

“Combatting computer misuse and data protection breaches are a strategic priority for our anti-corruption unit, and we have put a number of significant measures in place, including educational training packages, briefings and further measures.