A detective has been found guilty of waging a ‘sinister and disturbing’ campaign of harassment against her policeman ex-lover and his wife.

Married Lucy Worthington, 28, used a vast array of aliases to bombard Christopher and Christine Stoddart with letters, text messages and emails after he ended their affair.

The chilling messages contained unnerving personal information about Mrs Stoddart, including details of a breast cancer scare and a description of her home, including her son’s bedroom.

But detective sergeant’s career now stands in tatters after she was found guilty of harassing the couple at Stockport magistrate’s court.

The court heard she and PC Stoddart, 47, began their affair in January 2012 but he ended it a few months later when she found out she was expecting a baby with her husband Dave, who also worked at Cheshire Constabulary.

PC Stoddart confessed to his wife about the affair last May but six months later Worthington started to send messages threatening to expose the extent of their relationship and later turned her attentions to his wife.

Giving evidence earlier, Mrs Stoddart told of the devastating impact the messages had had on her.

She said: “It just brought everything back. It opened up old wounds we’d been trying to close for six months.”

She added: “These messages they were actually quite sinister. They were very unnerving.”

READ:

Worthington admitted sending some messages but denied sending the most-threatening texts, claiming she gave the pay-as-you-go phone to an unnamed friend.

The policewoman, who is now going through a divorce, said: “I had no motive to tell Christine. I didn’t want the truth to come out as much as he didn’t. I’ve lost my husband, my house and my job.”

Finding her guilty of two charges of harassment, District Judge Mark Hadfield told her he did not find her a credible witness.

He said: “I am satisfied that all the communications sent to both complainants emanated from you.

“In my view you were effectively creating a smokescreen that somebody other than you was sending some communication to the complainants. I simply don’t accept that.”

Worthington, of Park Lane, Sandbach, Cheshire, will be sentenced next month. She was bailed and ordered not to contact the Stoddarts.

She remains suspended from duty and Cheshire Constabulary has now launched disciplinary proceedings against her for gross misconduct.

Detective Superintendent John Armstrong, head of Cheshire Constabulary’s professional standards department, said: “Now that the court proceedings have concluded, internal disciplinary procedures that amount to gross misconduct will follow. Miss Worthington remains suspended from duty.”

More news from the Manchester Evening News

Find out what's happening where you live with our In Your Area section

Read the Manchester Evening News on your phone - download the Apple MEN App here, the Android MEN App here - and get the paper as an e-edition every morning  by subscribing here