A former police constable who negotiated a threesome with sex workers while in uniform and told a “vulnerable” teenager that he would love to see her naked has been jailed.
Carl Edwards, 37, spent an hour and a half alone with the teenager in her room after going to her home when she was reported missing, making sexual comments and calling her his “Christmas present”, Chester Crown Court heard.
Pattern of Abuse of Power
The defendant also crawled areas frequented by sex workers asking for “business”, despite being in his police uniform and driving a marked car. When one woman flagged him down to report an allegation that she had been strangled, he ignored his duties and instead tried to arrange a threesome with her, Liverpool Echo reports.
Sentencing him to 15 months in jail, Judge Michael Leeming said: “You arranged and sought to exploit an interest in sex workers and with a third vulnerable member of the public, in duty and in uniform. The harm is obvious. The police relationship with the public depends on trust and confidence. You were aware of this.”
Details of the Offences
Ember-Jade Wong, prosecuting, told the court that Edwards became a police officer in February 2020 and was initially based in Wirral West before transferring in May of the following year to Edge Lane station.
The court heard Edwards visited the Sheil Road area of Kensington between June 2022 and December 2023. One vulnerable woman, addicted to class A drugs, reported that Edwards stopped her and asked how much to do “business”. He asked how he would pay her, stroked her hand and called her gorgeous, before giving her his name and number. Edwards later attended the woman's home but got cold feet because of CCTV on her building and concerns that a card payment could be traced back to him.
Ms Wong told the court that two other sex workers based around the Rice Lane area flagged Edwards down because one of them had been strangled. He interacted with them for just six seconds before driving around to speak with the suspect, but did not take the man's details or activate his police bodycam. Edwards returned to the two women and “flirted” before asking them for a threesome. They agreed and a £50 price to each of them was negotiated. Edwards returned at the end of his shift but one of the women had left the area. In the following week he returned to the area at least 19 times.
Incident with Vulnerable Teenager
The court was told he responded to a call that an “exceptionally vulnerable” girl in her late teens, who repeatedly went missing, had not returned after going to the shops. The morning after she returned home, Edwards was dispatched to carry out a 10-minute assessment. But Ms Wong said Edwards spent around 90 minutes alone in her room, sitting on her bed while she was under the covers wearing just a dressing gown. He gave her drags on his vape before asking what she was wearing when she went missing. When she indicated it was a red corset on the ground, he replied he would love to see her in it and to see her naked. He told her he was aroused and rubbed her leg through the duvet, before telling her she was his Christmas present.
The teenager was said to have been in hysterics and, in a victim impact statement, told the court she no longer felt safe leaving home and would forever struggle to trust the police in the future.
Conviction and Aftermath
Edwards was arrested in December 2023 and suspended from duty. Over three interviews he denied any wrongdoing, accusing all the victims of lying. But the former officer, from Upton, was unanimously convicted of three counts of misconduct in a public office and two data protection offences following a trial in July. He had no previous convictions, but had a caution for possession of class B drug mephedrone from 2010, which the court heard was undeclared to the police when he joined.
Amanda Rowe, director of engagement at the Independent Office for Police Conduct, said: “The offending by PC Edwards was a deliberate and prolonged pattern of criminal behaviour which seemed to only escalate over time and culminated with his abhorrent actions when visiting a vulnerable girl who would have undoubtedly placed trust in him at the time.”
Detective Chief Superintendent Sabi Kaur, head of Merseyside Police's professional standards unit, added: “In abusing his position of trust with victims of crimes in pursuit of his own gratification, Edwards behaviour was nothing short of abhorrent.”
Edwards appeared for a gross misconduct hearing on October 1 and it was found he would have been dismissed from the force had he not already resigned. He was also placed on the College of Policing barred list.
