Woman jailed for harassment of police officers

The constabulary said Tracey Partington’s behaviour had a detrimental effect on both the wellbeing of staff and its ability to respond to genuine emergencies when they were tied up investigating her false claims.

Her messages contained threats to attack officers with weapons, firearms or explosives. One officer in particular was subjected to more than 1,000 text messages of what were described in court as “vile and disgusting” content.

Partington’s campaign of abusive behaviour began in 2017 and she was subsequently jailed for four months in 2018. On her release, she resumed sending messages.

Each contact had to be logged and assessed or deployed to determine if the threat was credible, causing extreme demand and stress in the force control room.

Partington, 41, attempted to cover her tracks by using different mobile phones to send messages but, following extensive inquiries, she was arrested in September last year.

At Preston Crown Court yesterday (January 21), Partington pleaded guilty to harassment, putting a person in fear of violence and breach of restraining order between September and October 2019. She was sentenced to 27 months in prison.

She was also given a lifetime restraining order with one of the conditions not to contact Lancashire Constabulary or its employees except in a genuine matter requiring police involvement.

Commenting on the verdict, Detective Chief Inspector Lee Wilson said: “Almost daily and on many occasions several times a day, calls threatening to attack police officers using weapons and firearms or explosive devices were being received.

“These were deployed to, depleting the force’s ability to answer genuine calls for service. Suffice to say Ms Partington has proved to be a recurring, unpleasant and difficult thorn in the side of Lancashire Police for several years now and I welcome the sentence which will hopefully mitigate the impact of her behaviour.”