OFFENDER LEE CUNLIFFE OF GREATER MANCHESTER JAILED FOR CHILD SEX OFFENCES
A police officer who attempted to arrange the abuse of an eight-year-old girl and accessed indecent images of a vulnerable teenager has been sentenced to prison.Detective Constable Lee Cunliffe, aged 40, admitted to seven charges, including the attempt to facilitate a child sex offence.
He has been suspended from his duties since his 2020 arrest.
Cunliffe, from Wigan, was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court to eight years and four months in prison.
The court was told Cunliffe had served as a police officer for 17 years before his misconduct came to light.
In September 2020, he began messaging a woman he believed was the mother of the young girl via the Kik messaging app.
Prosecutor Arthur Gibson explained, "Cunliffe told the woman, who was actually an undercover officer from the Metropolitan Police, that he intended to visit London to sexually assault her daughter." Police investigations uncovered that Cunliffe had sent these messages from various devices, including a police-owned computer at Swinton police station.
He was subsequently arrested in October 2020.
A search of his home revealed a laptop that contained access to indecent images of children, including those of a teenage girl who had reported distributing indecent images of her without her knowledge in 2018.
Mr Gibson noted that Cunliffe, then a trainee detective, had been assigned to the case involving the teenage girl and had seized her computer and phone after his arrest.
However, he later falsely logged that there was nothing on the devices related to the case, when in reality, both contained numerous indecent images of children, totaling 227.
The devices were returned to Cunliffe with the images still present, and no further action was taken at the time.
Further examination revealed files from between 2014 and 2018 suggesting child abuse on Cunliffe’s laptop.
Julian King, representing Cunliffe, stated that his client was undergoing psychotherapy and was diagnosed with compulsive sexual behaviour disorder.
Cunliffe, who resides in Hindley Green, pleaded guilty to several charges at an earlier hearing: arranging the commission of a child sex offence, perverting the course of justice, misconduct in public office, distributing indecent images of a child, and three counts of making indecent images.
Judge Andrew Menary QC, the Recorder of Liverpool, imposed the sentence, remarking that Cunliffe’s actions involving the young girl were "hardly more serious" and noted, "What you did in relation to this girl and this case is shocking and strikes at the very foundation of the public’s trust in the police service." Following the sentencing, GMP’s Deputy Chief Constable Terry Woods condemned Cunliffe's conduct, describing it as "absolutely inexcusable" and stating it `undermined the core values of policing, including protecting the public and aiding those in need." Detective Inspector Suzanne Keenaghan from GMP's online child abuse investigation team called Cunliffe’s actions "depraved," adding, "He deliberately created an online profile with the perverted intention of arranging to commit a child sex offence and was in possession of indecent images for his own sexual gratification." GMP confirmed that Cunliffe would face disciplinary procedures under the Police Conduct Regulations.
The NSPCC, a child protection charity, commented that "Cunliffe’s actions were an appalling abuse of his position of trust.
Despite his police training and employment, he chose to pursue his own perverted desires, knowing the devastating impact sexual abuse has on children’s lives."
