“He had much to lose and he has lost it.”

That’s the reality for Swindon-based police officer Darren Thorn, who was today locked up after he got into a sexual relationship with a woman he had assisted in a domestic violence case. 

Reading Crown Court today heard how the 44-year-old, who now lives in Braunton, South Devon, lost his job and his family after admitting to misconduct in public office. 

The judge sentencing him described his behaviour as a “catastrophic mistake”. 

After being called to an incident of domestic violence in June 2016, Thorn used details from the case to find contact details about the female victim. 

He contacted her via text and three months after the domestic violence incident, the pair began a sexual relationship. 

Reading Crown Court heard how Thorn visited the woman while on-duty as a police officer. 

During their relationship, Thorn used a police computer on three occasions to access information about the woman’s family and friends. 

On one occasion, he did so in order to check the details of a report from the woman’s mother after she had allegedly been flashed. 

Thorn passed on the information to his partner to ‘comfort’ her about the details of the report, Reading Crown Court heard. 

Prosecutor Christopher Wing said: “He had unlawful business in making these inquiries on the computer.

“He shouldn’t have looked at it. He certainly shouldn’t have passed on information about it.”

Thorn’s relationship with the woman came to an end in summer 2018. In September 2018, she told a counsellor about their relationship and the authorities were notified about this. 

Police attended his address to arrest him in September 2018. While they were there making the arrest, Thorn asked to go to the toilet. 

Here, he tried to hide an iPhone in a bin in the bathroom. Police seized the phone and discovered more than 56,000 messages between Thorn and the woman. 

More than three years after the relationship ended, Thorn was hauled before a judge for sentencing on after admitting to misconduct in public office, coruption and two counts of misusing a police computer. 

His defence counsel, Christopher Saad, said: “He was a married man who lived with his wife and three children. 

“He had a job that was a very rich source of pride for him. 

“He had much to lose and he has lost it.”

His Honour Judge Paul Dugdale said the case was “very sad.”

“Unfortunately, we can all look back on moments in our lives and say ‘that was a catastrophic mistake’ and this is one of those moments”, the judge said. 

Citing a letter from Thorn’s pastor, Mr Saad said the defendant was a man who was “full of remorse and regret for what he did and full of sadness and shame for what effects his actions had in his colleagues and his family.”

Mr Saad said Thorn now lives in his parents’ spare room and “instead of getting in a police car every morning, he gets a bus to a warehouse job.”

Sentencing, HHJ Dugdale said: “Darren Thorn is a 44-year-old man, of effectively good character. He has spent his life serving his family and community.

"This is a tragic case to deal with and it was a sad case. Darren Thorn has expressed clear remorse for what he has done. This was a mistake in his life, which he respects. One of the great conditions of being a human is that we make silly mistakes.

"There is no doubt the custody threshold has been crossed in this case. The court of appeal have made it quite clear the only sentence that can be passed is an immediate custodial sentence."

Reacting to the sentencing, Wiltshire PCC Philip Wilkinson said: "Former Police Constable Darren Thorn abused his position of trust to form a completely inappropriate sexual relationship with a victim he met when attending her home in the course of his duties.

“The sentence Thorn received today shows just how appalled and fed up society is with those in privileged positions, abusing those privileges for their own selfish gain.

"It would be a huge injustice to the vast majority of officers and staff at Wiltshire Police who carry out their roles with integrity to suggest that his behaviour was representative of the wider Force, but it would be wholly misguided to suggest that this former officer is a lone 'bad apple'.

"Cases like this chip away at public confidence and I continue to work with the Chief Constable to eradicate any trace of corruption and misconduct within Wiltshire Police to ensure that we do not end up in a place where that public trust cannot be rebuilt.

"There is no place in policing for those who abuse their position for personal gain.”