Ex-PSNI officer jailed over affair with vulnerable woman admits stealing Scalextric toys

Appearing at Lisburn Magistrates’ Court by videolink from his home in England today, Mark Goddard (38) entered a guilty plea to a count of theft between January 1, 2017 and November 23, 2019.

He stole seven Scalextric cars and accessories “of an unknown value” from Peter and Hilary Niblock.

However, Goddard, formerly from Ballymacash Park in Lisburn, denied eight further counts of theft from the same complainants.

The list of items allegedly stolen by the former PSNI officer include Haynes car manuals for a classic BMW and Honda Civic, models of a VW Campervan and Beetle, a Harp mirror and dining seat covers, perfume, aftershave and Ugg boots, a boxed Harry Potter figure, spot lamp covers for a classic Ford, car speakers, a laptop and an Apple TV.

Following arraignment, where Goddard opted to have his case dealt with in the Magistrates’ Court, a prosecuting lawyer conceded that, “to be frank with the court”, the Public Prosecution Service and police were encountering difficulties in preparing their case.

She told District Judge Rosie Watters the alleged victims had not responded to letters while the investigating officer has himself left the PSNI.

Judge Watters adjourned the case to December 4 to fix a date for the contest and warned that Goddard will have to attend court in person for the trial.

It was back in August 2021 when former officer Goddard was handed a two-year sentence for misconduct in public office, offences which saw him kicked out of the PSNI soon afterwards.

The ex-officer conducted a year-long affair with a vulnerable drug addict he arrested for burglary in 2017.

The father-of-two later pleaded guilty to two counts of misconduct in public office by disclosing confidential information from the police computer system.

Jailing Goddard, the judge told him: “You were in a position of privilege and power. You abused that position to satisfy your own sexual desires at the expense of a vulnerable young woman who, by your own admission, you cared little for as a person.”

During the affair, Goddard had sent Levi Mailey close to 10,000 text messages, more than 3,000 of which were sent when he was on duty and many of which were “highly sexualised”. Goddard also sent explicit images of himself and asked for intimate images of her “in return”.

The pair had numerous consensual sexual encounters in Goddard’s marital home, his car and a “designated meeting point”, but their affair came to light in May 2018 when the PSNI, investigating a stabbing incident, spoke to the woman, who revealed she had been having an affair with Goddard.

That revelation sparked the probe which uncovered not just the affair, but also that Goddard had accessed the police computer system and disclosed confidential details to his lover.

Goddard was freed from jail after serving half of his sentence.

His time inside, the judge remarked, would be particularly hard but his offending was “a gross breach of the trust reposed in the defendant”.