A builder has been ordered to pay a police officer £400 in compensation after he put a doctored photograph of him on Facebook – with two PENISES drawn on his head.
Jordan Barrack took a secret snap of unsuspecting Pc Charles Harris while he was being interviewed at Sleaford Police Station in Lincolnshire.
He was asked to attended a voluntary interview on August 21 last year after he witnessed a drunken brawl the night before.
The 20-year-old was so frustrated at being left waiting for two hours he took a picture of Pc Harris when he finally took his statement.
Later that day Barrack used Photoshop to draw two penises on the officer’s head and face before uploading the image to Facebook and Snapchat.
The snap shows Pc Charles Harris sitting at his desk in a police station with the caption: “Police w***ers!!”
But he found himself arrested after the joke image was shared by over 1,700 people and passed to Lincolnshire Police.
Barrack was arrested and pleaded guilty to posting a grossly offensive, obscene picture on a social media site at Lincoln Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
JPs ordered him to pay £400 in compensation to Pc Harris as well as £85 costs and a £60 victim surcharge.
The builder was also slapped with a 12-month community order with 40 hours of unpaid work.
Prosecutor Daniel Pietryka told the court: “On August 21 at Sleaford Police Station he posted a picture on Snapchat and Facebook of Pc Harris who had been interviewing Barrack at the station.
“Without the officers knowledge he took a photo and adapted the image by drawing two penises on the officer’s face.
“The image was visible on his Facebook profile and had been seen on Snapchat.”
Defending himself in court, Barrack, who lives with his parents in Ruskington, Lincs., said: “I am terribly sorry and it was a massive mistake and I shouldn’t have done it.
“Please send my apologies to the officer. If I was to see them again I would apologise to them.
“It was a very expensive photograph and I won’t do it again.”
Barrack yesterday told how a court official told him he had only been prosecuted because the victim of his prank was a police officer.
He fumed: “I was massively shocked at the fine.
“At first they said I had to do 40 hours of community service which I thought was okay and I was happy with that.
“Then they said I had to pay £85 court fees and £60 victim surcharge which I was expecting.
“But then they said the compensation for the distress of the police was #400 and I couldn’t believe it.
“I know for a fact that money isn’t going to go directly to him.
“The amount of calls police get saying so and so has uploaded a nasty picture and they do nothing about it must be huge.
“A woman in the court said because it was a police officer they had to do something about it. It’s ridiculous.
“One of my mates got abused and assaulted and he only got £100 compensation.
“People have come up to me and said they can’t believe it got to court and said it was a waste of taxpayers’ money.”
Jordan also said he took the “cocky” picture after getting fed up of waiting for over two hours to give officers an account of a bar brawl he had witnessed.
He added: “I was waiting for ages. They told me to turn about at 9.30pm after I had been at work all day and had work the next morning.
“But I didn’t leave until after midnight. I was doing them a favour as a voluntary witness.
“He (the police officer) was writing things down and I just sat there bored out of my head so got my phone out and thought I would be a bit cocky and did it.
“I thought nothing would come of it. I’ve got a PCSO who is on my Facebook friends and my only thought is she might have shopped me in to look good to her bosses.
“I know none of my friends would have told the police.
“They confiscated my phone at the time and I still haven’t got it back over five months later even though the case is finished now.”
Barrack’s mum Karen, 47, added: “What Jordan did was stupid and he knows that but to be dragged to court and told to pay over £500 in fines and costs is a bit draconian.
“The reason he took the picture was because he was being forced to wait for hours to give an interview.
“He had been attacked by a drunken yob and the thug claimed Jordan had attacked him. Jordan was never charged with any offence and just wanted to come home.
“When he was arrested for taking the picture and putting it on the internet he was shocked, he thought it was joke at first.
“Surely the courts have got better things to do than arrest people for doing what is no more than a schoolboy prank.”
