A fake cop with blue lights in his car stopped a woman in a quiet Wiltshire lane.
Father-of-three Chris Green pleaded guilty to impersonating a police officer days after his arrest in May 2023 – but later changed his plea to not guilty.
A trial took place at Swindon Magistrates’ Court yesterday (Thursday, 9 May), where he was convicted of the offence and could face a spell behind bars.
Tom Power, prosecuting, said the defendant was driving a Ford Fiesta at approximately 30mph in a 60mph zone when a woman driver ‘felt uneasy’ and overtook him.
Moments later, Green overtook the woman with blue lights illuminated in his vehicle. Believing that she was being stopped by the police, she pulled into Longsplatt, in Box, Wiltshire.
Green exited his vehicle and confronted her at the window of her car – telling her that she was driving dangerously.
During the incident on 6 May last year, she asked where he was from and he replied with words to the effect of: “I work for law enforcement, a local undercover crime unit The Brotherhood”.
He proceeded to walk around the vehicle, looking around it. When he noticed that her child was also in the car, he was said to change his tone and immediately drove away.
Giving evidence, she said: “I started to feel a bit uneasy and he saw my son who was sat in the front seat and he just started walking away and said ‘I’m gonna let this go this time, you’ve got a child in the car’.
“I asked who do you work for, and he said words to the effect of ‘I work for the undercover local crime enforcement or something like that, and then, I think he said ‘The Brotherhood’.
“I asked for a badge number, and I think he said a badge number, but it was when he was walking away from me.
I just felt really uncomfortable and my son was starting to ask lots of questions and I was thinking this is wrong, something’s not right.
“I was hugely nervous, I was shaking. I had to reassure my son, who still thought that this was the police, and he was saying ‘are you in trouble mummy’? I’m thinking, I don’t know what’s going on here, something’s just weird; I felt nervous. I felt anxious.
The victim said the stop felt “bizarre and weird” and said she “felt uncomfortable” throughout the interaction. The incident was reported to the police after she informed her husband.
Police officers remained on the lookout for the suspect car, and by luck located it in the Chippenham area two days later – on Monday (8 May 2023).
When Green was stopped, officers found the blue flashing dash light within his vehicle. They also located a baseball bat and handcuffs.
The defendant, a security guard who was working at the Badminton Horse Trials, denied that he had intentionally caused the woman to think he was a police officer.
In custody, Green told officers he was not impersonating a police officer – he just wanted the female to think about her actions, especially with the child in the car.
Mr Power added that the defendant claimed that he remained nice throughout, as he felt bad for the child. He said if the child was not there, he would have given the female “both barrels”.
He told officers he didn’t go to school or complete any exams, but he did make something of himself becoming a world kickboxing champion, from which he had to retire, and has since started a security business.
He said he works in security because when he was a child he was “battered and abused”, Mr Power added. His SIA licence has been suspended due to this case.
However, magistrates found him guilty of the offence after an hour of deliberations.
Green, of Nero Place, Peterborough, was released on unconditional bail and will return for sentencing in June.
