Former Merseyside Police officer sentenced to two years in prison

Police can confirm a former officer has been jailed for two years in prison following a Merseyside Police investigation.

Former Detective Constable John Rigby appeared at Chester Crown Court Friday 16 January after pleading guilty to paying for the sexual services of a boy aged 16/17 and three counts of causing a computer to perform a function to secure/enable unauthorised access to a program/data.

An accelerated Misconduct Hearing was held on Wednesday 17 December, which was chaired by Chief Constable Rob Carden, when he was formally dismissed.

It was found he had breached the standards of professional behaviour in terms of authority, respect and courtesy as well as discreditable conduct.

Rigby was arrested on Thursday 6 November and the following day he was charged and remanded and pleaded guilty on 7 November.

He appeared in Chester Crown Court today where he was sentenced to two years for paying for the sexual services of the boy and one year for the computer misuse offences, to be served concurrently. He was additionally served with a restraining order relating to the victim.

Detective Inspector Stephen Croasdale from the force Child Criminal and Sexual Exploitation Team, who led the investigation, said: “Merseyside Police carried out a swift and thorough investigation into the actions of former Det Con John Rigby as soon as the allegations came to light.

“We were able to gather enough evidence to prove his offending, leaving him no choice but to admit what he had done.

“It’s only right that he now spends time in prison, when I hope he reflects on his crimes and the impact it has caused.

“Merseyside Police is completely committed to protecting young people from sexual abuse and stopping those who seek to do them harm.

“As you can imagine for victims of such an appalling crime, the impact on them is significant and long-lasting.

“We urge anyone who is a victim of any form of sexual abuse to please report this to police, and specially trained officers will listen to you and treat you with sensitivity and compassion throughout the entire legal process and beyond.”

Detective Chief Superintendent Sarbjit Kaur, head of Merseyside Police's professional standards department, added: “Former Detective Constable John Rigby was rightly dismissed at an accelerated Misconduct Hearing due to the serious offences he admitted.

“The overwhelming majority of people who work for Merseyside Police join the force to support and help the public and they serve our communities with compassion and integrity on a daily basis.

“We will not allow individuals to damage the good name built up by the vast majority of our officers who do an exemplary job and serve our communities with compassion, integrity and professionalism.

“I would also like to reassure the public that as soon as he admitted the offences, his salary was stopped and he hasn’t received any payment from Merseyside Police since this date.

"We cannot afford to have officers and staff working for us who do not uphold the highest levels of professionalism, honesty and integrity and will always be robust in dealing with officers, or staff, whose conduct is unacceptable.

"It is vital that we as a police force maintain the public’s trust and confidence and ensure that officers and staff throughout the force realise the importance of maintaining standards and working with honesty and integrity.

"The public quite rightly have high expectations of police officers and Merseyside Police is committed to meeting those expectations by demanding high standards of professionalism, honesty and integrity.”