Wigan police officer handed suspended sentence after admitting controlling and coercive behaviour
Abigail Barlow, 32, committed the offences between June 2016 and October 2020
Last updated 24th Jul 2023
A Greater Manchester Police officer has pleaded guilty to using coercive and controlling behaviour against her ex-partner.
Abigail Barlow, 32, committed the offences between June 2016 and October 2020.
A misconduct hearing was told Barlow was emotionally abusive and used violence, and that her behaviour amounted to gross misconduct.
The hearing was also told that Barlow, who was a PC on the Wigan district, would have been dismissed had she still been serving. Barlow resigned from the force on 20 January 2023.
She was sentenced to 26 weeks in prison, suspended for two years. She also received 30 days rehabilitation, 200 hours unpaid work and a restraining order at Mold Magistrates Court on Monday 10 July 2023.
Barlow has been added to the College of Policing Barred List.
GMP's Chief Constable Stephen Watson said Barlow’s culpability was regarded as 'high’ due to her 'unacceptable catalogue of cruel, coercive and violent behaviour’.
He said: “Barlow's actions were deliberate, unforced, repeated and carried out in the full knowledge that her conduct was both patently unlawful and morally reprehensible.
"Barlow's conduct and conviction inevitably brings the profession into disrepute and undoubtedly damages the confidence that the public might wish to otherwise place in their police officers.
"The criminal behaviour took place over a prolonged period of time and constituted a destructive and regular pattern of behaviour. It resulted in serious psychological harms and rendered the victim especially vulnerable."