'Night Raven' Escort Paid £19k Detective to Frame Ex-boyfriend

Faline · #1 ● 10-10-2013, 03:33 PM

Claire Smethurst, 48, paid Det Con Daniel Withnell £19,000 to plant a shotgun or drugs in Leroy Thomas' car saying: "I need the f***** sorting out."
But the day after paying the detective, Smethurst began to have cold feet and called the deal off. She was arrested after reporting the rendezvous to Withnell's colleagues.
Manchester Crown Court was told Withnell, who was serving in Greater Manchester Police's Salford Division at the time, had already been under suspicion of corruption and was a frequent gambler with a "lifestyle beyond his means".
The officer planned to double-cross Smethurst and keep the cash and had no intention of carrying out the plan.
Details of the plot emerged as Smethurst, from Bolton, who ran a firm called Night Raven Ltd, was given a 15-month sentence, suspended for two years after pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice.

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Withnell, who has since been sacked, pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office and perverting the course of justice and is in custody awaiting sentence.
The court heard how the plot was hatched in September last year after Smethurst, who has homes in Manchester and Marbella was was "distraught" to learn the CPS were not proceeding with a complaint of assault she had made against Thomas.
She opened a bottle of bubbly and began confiding her woes in a series of text messages to Withnell whom she befriended in a tanning salon he owned in Bolton.
Withnell, who had been a police officer for 11 years, suggested to Smethurst via text that he could plant a shotgun in the car of her former lover in exchange for a cash payment of £30,000.
She agreed to the plan and they met at a friend's Manchester flat on the afternoon of October 1. He then left the premises with £19,000 cash as a downpayment on the pretence that the plan was to go ahead.
But the following morning she texted Withnell several times saying the deal was off and asked to get her money back. She also contacted another serving policeman she knew and gave him some details about what had happened.
He reported the matter to his superiors and counter-corruption police officers then set up a meeting with Smethurst in a Manchester hotel on October 12. She told them about Withnell and gave them her phone so they could access text messages.
Withnell was arrested and suspended on October 22 last year. Legal proceedings are now being taken to seize the £19,000 he accepted from Smethurst as proceeds of crime.
Sentencing Smethurst, who sehas now quit the escort industry Judge Michael Henshell said: "I do not accept the extent of your drunkenness but I do accept you had been drinking. Evidence in your texts seems to indicate you were in full control of your senses."
"You went along with the suggestion and it is obvious Withnell left your premises with £19,000 and for some time you were of the view that the plan was going to be arranged.
"The next day at 9.17am you made it clear you didn't want anything to do with the plan and following that you contacted another police officer you knew and reported it to him and he reported it to relevant authorities.
"After that you did assist the police and were interviewed and you allowed the police to take your phone which had the text messages. After the combination of those factors Withnell did plead guilty.
"This is a very grave offence but your offence is mitigated to a great extent by your behaviour afterwards and the short duration it lasted for and the fact it was suggested by Daniel Withnell himself."
Withnell has also admitted abusing his position as a serving Greater Manchester Police officer to access a police database and get information from officers investigating a man named Robert Sandford.
It is said he then drafted a false MG3 charging advice form, claiming to be from a Crown Prosecution Service lawyer, which he e-mailed to a civilian.
An MG3 form is used by the CPS to notify officers involved in an investigation, in writing, of charging and other advice about a case.
Following his arrest, an anonymous text message was sent on March 16 this year to another serving officer saying a man had been paid to shoot Withnell. Police believe Withnell himself sent the message.