Former police officer sentenced for misconduct

A former Devon and Cornwall Police officer has been sentenced for forming an inappropriate relationship with a woman he met while on duty.

Martyn Newitt, 39, from Liskeard, Cornwall, admitted misconduct in a public office and causing a computer to perform a function with intent to secure unauthorised access to a programme data, the court heard.

He was sentenced to a 12-month prison term, suspended for 12 months, following a hearing at Bristol Crown Court on Friday.

The judge also ordered Newitt to complete 120 hours of unpaid work and 20 rehabilitation activity days within the next 12 months.

The court was told Newitt had been a temporary police sergeant when he was called to attend the home of a woman following an incident involving her former partner in May 2020.

Newitt, now a married father-of-two, initially exchanged professional messages with the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, on his police phone.

He then created a social media account under the name Nick Nicholson which he used to exchange sexual messages with the woman, the court was told.

Newitt also looked up a police log regarding an allegation of rape the woman had made against a different person.

The woman made a complaint about Newitt after being stopped by officers due to an issue with her vehicle in December 2021, leading to Newitt being suspended and he resigned three years later.

Judge Michael Cullum said: "It is always sad to see a man of good character come before the criminal courts to be sentenced, particularly when having been a serving public official and police officer that fall from grace is higher.

"The references show that you were a good officer, rising to be a sergeant.

"You threw that away when, in a period of weakness and stress in your personal life, you pursued an inappropriate relationship with a member of the public."

In a victim personal statement read to the court, the woman said: "I was scared, isolated and vulnerable.

"Martyn arrived in uniform to help and I trusted him. He was supposed to protect us. Instead, he embedded himself in my life and became Nick.

"I am grieving a man that never existed. Nick wasn't just his name. It was his carefully crafted persona."

Newitt said he had been in a "very difficult place" at the time.

"Up until that point, my record as a police officer was untarnished," he said.

"I have let the public down by putting myself in this position.

"I am eternally sorry for that."

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