Shamed Rossendale PC loses sentence appeal

9:32am Tuesday 28th June 2011 in Crawshawbooth By David Strand

NO CUT Michael Fletcher NO CUT Michael Fletcher

A FORMER police officer jailed for having sex with a suicidal woman while on duty has failed in an appeal against his prison sentence.

Michael Fletcher, 31, made a bid to cut the length of his two years and eight months’ jail term. But it was rejected by Lord Justice Leveson, Mr Justice Griffith Williams and Mr Justice Holroyde.

Lord Justice Leveson said it was a ‘terrible’ case for everybody involved, as Fletcher, a father-of-two, had lost his marriage and career.

“The complainant was a vulnerable woman with serious alcohol problems, who suffered from depression and who was talking about committing suicide,” said Mr Justice Griffith Williams.

“His conduct that day amounted to a gross breach of trust and of his responsibility as a police officer.

“The vulnerable victim, who was entitled 110 per cent to rely upon the integrity of the officer, was let down by him and abused by him.”

He had been sent to the woman’s home after responding to a welfare call from an alcohol dependency service officer last July.

In February, having pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office, the former Royal Marine, of Compston Avenue, Crawshawbooth, was jailed at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester.

Comments(14)

happycyclist says...
9:41am Tue 28 Jun 11

Two and a half years for consensual sex???

The yob who killed Adam Rogers only got three and a half years.

What laws did Michael Fletcher break? This warranted nothing more than disciplinary action/dismissal from his employer. Sending him to prison is WRONG.

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happycyclist says...
9:44am Tue 28 Jun 11

Or to make another, obvious comparison -the scumbag who killed Amy Houston got just four months.

The 'justice' system SUCKS.

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bottletop says...
9:52am Tue 28 Jun 11

I have read of this case and although what he did was very wrong he has in fact been stitched up and made an example of.
As happycyclists says . There are people getting much less for far more serious crimes .
The whole thing is a disgrace !!!!

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Chuck-Norris says...
10:19am Tue 28 Jun 11

Can't we start putting real criminals in prison please?
What planet are these judges on!???

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Gob says...
10:49am Tue 28 Jun 11

I totally accept the opinions that sentences are too soft and this seems out of proportion when compared to other cases but I think the point is police officers should be out fighting crime and protecting people...not shaggin women whilst they are at work. Considering his position this jail term is about right, others commited by repeat offenders or crimes that result in serious harm or death are far too lenient.

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Mill62 says...
12:43pm Tue 28 Jun 11

The point is that he was on duty at the time. Being paid by our taxes.
I agree that other sentences are too lenient.

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Dave Harwood says...
1:25pm Tue 28 Jun 11

By all means sack him and strip him of his pension but nearly 3 years inside for something that wasn't an offence until a couple of years back? If it was that bad it would have been on the statute books years ago.

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Chuck-Norris says...
3:42pm Tue 28 Jun 11

You'd have to screw a lot of houses to get this long inside !!

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Chris P Bacon says...
5:27pm Tue 28 Jun 11

happycyclist wrote:
Two and a half years for consensual sex???

The yob who killed Adam Rogers only got three and a half years.

What laws did Michael Fletcher break? This warranted nothing more than disciplinary action/dismissal from his employer. Sending him to prison is WRONG.
Consensual? The victim was a vulnerable woman that this piece of filth abused and took serious advantage of. He deserves every second he got, as proven by the appeals findings.

And comparing this sentence with others is plain daft. After being found guilty, he wasn't going to be sentenced based on other tariffs but what sentence the crime demanded.

There's three eminent legal brains named up there who were all privvy to the horrific details of the case but it's your word against theirs, of course.

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the halitosis kid says...
5:39pm Tue 28 Jun 11

Chris P Bacon wrote:
happycyclist wrote:
Two and a half years for consensual sex???

The yob who killed Adam Rogers only got three and a half years.

What laws did Michael Fletcher break? This warranted nothing more than disciplinary action/dismissal from his employer. Sending him to prison is WRONG.
Consensual? The victim was a vulnerable woman that this piece of filth abused and took serious advantage of. He deserves every second he got, as proven by the appeals findings.

And comparing this sentence with others is plain daft. After being found guilty, he wasn't going to be sentenced based on other tariffs but what sentence the crime demanded.

There's three eminent legal brains named up there who were all privvy to the horrific details of the case but it's your word against theirs, of course.
i agree with you chrispy shanks,unlike the rest of the comments on here(you can only imagine what goes through their minds), the woman had a mental illness and this scumbag thought i'll have a bit of that easy pickings...

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bottletop says...
7:18pm Tue 28 Jun 11

The woman was an alcoholic and drug user. Does this make her incapable of deciding if she wants sex or not ? If it does a lot of people should not be shagging .
I also believe she tried to withdraw her complaint and wrote to the police force involved .
The sentence was far to harsh .

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Chris P Bacon says...
7:45pm Tue 28 Jun 11

bottletop wrote:
The woman was an alcoholic and drug user. Does this make her incapable of deciding if she wants sex or not ? If it does a lot of people should not be shagging .
I also believe she tried to withdraw her complaint and wrote to the police force involved .
The sentence was far to harsh .
The original sentence, imposed after all the evidence presented to the court, was ratified by the appeals system. So he had two chances and the sentence found justified both times.

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Ian123xyz says...
9:45pm Tue 28 Jun 11

The jailed MPs who defrauded us (and those who seem to have got away with it) were also at work at the time and got much less than this guy who engaged in consensual sex?

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nice person says...
12:58am Thu 30 Jun 11

happycyclist wrote:
Two and a half years for consensual sex???

The yob who killed Adam Rogers only got three and a half years.

What laws did Michael Fletcher break? This warranted nothing more than disciplinary action/dismissal from his employer. Sending him to prison is WRONG.
Spot on.

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