An obsessed former police officer who caught his wife having sex with a married colleague in a car park has narrowly avoided jail after being convicted of stalking.

Gavin Harper, 45, found Stephanie Glynn, 40, and her lover Andrew McLullich, 42, outside the hardware store in Birkenhead, Merseyside, UK on February 16, 2021, after secretly placing a tracker on his wife’s car.

He slowly crept up to the vehicle and used his mobile phone to record the lovers, who were naked from the waist down, before allegedly shouting: ‘I’ve got you on film sh***ing my wife.’

The dad-of-two was found guilty of aggravated stalking, including secretly bugging Ms Glynn’s car, listening to her conservations, tracking her movements and taking her phone without permission.

He was also accused of assaulting Mr McLullich, a Merseyside Police Inspector, but was cleared of injuring the officer at Liverpool Crown Court as he claimed he only struck the policeman in self-defence.

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Prosecutors said it was Harper’s conviction was the end of the campaign of ‘obsessive, intrusive and unwanted behaviour’ against Ms Glynn from December 2020 to February 2021.

Harper and Ms Glynn met as Merseyside Police officers and were in a six-year relationship before they married in 2018 but she left the family home in December 2020 after she grew close to her work mentor Mr McLullich, an acting inspector at the time and formerly her supervising sergeant.

Giving evidence, Harper said he wanted ‘undeniable proof’ of the affair, which he said Ms Glynn had persistently denied.

His intention was to pass the video to police as evidence of two serving officers having an inappropriate relationship during Covid lockdown restrictions, he said.

On Monday, Judge David Potter sentenced Harper to two years in jail, suspended for two years.

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The judge told him he would have faced immediate custody but for the significant effect that imprisonment would have had on his elderly parents and youngest son.

Harper’s lawyers told the court that he would lose his security job if jailed and would be unable to make his mortgage payments. His parents, whom he informally cared for, would ‘not be able to cope’ and his son would have to give up his university studies.

Judge Potter told Harper: “I am sure you became obsessed to the point of criminality in stalking Stephanie Glynn to provide evidence of her affair to weaponise that against her for having that affair, and you also became determined to destroy the career of Andrew McCulloch.

“In that obsession the feelings, embarrassment and pain felt by Stephanie Glynn were collateral damage. You were more concerned about your own feelings and a raging sense of injustice.”

He said the events at Screwfix ‘do no credit to any of the people involved’ and the incident was ‘rash, foolish, selfish and unprofessional’.

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Judge Potter went on: “I am sure it has haunted them (Ms Glynn and Mr McLullich) and will continue to haunt them for many years.”

But he said their acts were ‘made worse’ by Harper filming them on his mobile phone.

He said: “It was a further gross example of stalking designed to maximise their humiliation to your advantage. Your conduct was intended to maximise fear or distress.

“You resorted to stalking out of a sense of vengeance for being the victim of an affair. I am sure the distress caused to your victim has been very serious.”

But he added that there was ‘another side’ to the defendant who had no previous convictions, and had suffered mental trauma himself.

Harper had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his Army service in the King’s Regiment and the Royal Military Police – before he joined Merseyside Police in 2001.

The Edo State governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, said he has recruited over 5,000 workers into the state civil service since the inception of his administration in the past seven and half years.

He disclosed this while delivering his good will message to the workers in the state to mark the May Day celebration.

Mr. Obaseki said he has been able to turn the fortune of the state and its worker around by keeping to his electioneering promises.

“One of the things I promised in 2016, is that I was going to build our institution for governance and today, we can proudly say that workers have had means to achieve the modest institutional reform which we have now achieved in Edo State.

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“With your support, we have been able to recruit over 5,000 new workers into the Edo State service based on merit and no longer on favouritism as it used to be.

“Now, you don’t have to know anybody to get work in government in Edo you just need to know something.

“You can celebrate that we now have the best public service training academy in West Africa. And this academy, John Odigie Oyegun Public Service Academy (JOOSPA) has trained over 10,000 workers who participated enthusiastically in our trainings.

“I have been amazed how workers in Edo State have embraced and adopted technology and how they have continued to use the application to rebuild the way we do things in government”, Obaseki said.

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The governor, while commending the cordial relationship that has existed between his government and the organized labour in the state, maintained that the labour has not gone on strike except the the ones called by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) which the organized labour had to comply with.

He said his recent increment in the workers salary is one of his demonstrations of his commitment to their welfare, adding that he has already assured them that if the federal government increases its allocations to the state, he will also reflect it by increasing their salary too.

He thanked the organized labour for their cooporation over the years just as he urged them to sustain same.

On his part, state chairman of the NLC, Comrade Odion Olaye, thanked the state governor for increasing the workers salary and building them a befitting edifice in the state.

He said that the workers in the state will ever be grateful for him for providing a conducive working environment for workers in the state to thrive.

Gov. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State says his administration would do everything to make sure that the Civil Service in the State remained vibrant and result oriented.

Mohammed, who stated this during the 2024 International Workers’ Day celebration in Bauchi on Wednesday, said the move was to ensure seamless delivery of dividends of democracy to the good people of the state.

Represented by his Deputy, Alh Auwal Jatau, Mohammed reassured that no stone would be left unturned in his administration’s resolve to reposition the civil service and thereby restore its lost glory.

He explained that the recent provision of Wage Award and restoration of the payment of Annual Leave Grant to Civil Servants in the state was a deliberate attempt at providing succor to Civil Servants.

Mohammed commended the International Labour Organization for singling out workers day to celebrate workers’ contributions to world growth and development, adding that workers had the responsibility of striving to salvage the socio-economic and political fortune of the country.

“I am very pleased to be part of another annual celebration of the International Workers Day also known as ‘MAY DAY’.

“This day is specifically set aside to acknowledge and appreciate the contributions of workers to the socio-economic development of the country.

“As May Day is celebrated, workers in both the public and Private Sectors have the opportunity to reflect on their performances and see how much they have contributed to the development of their fatherland.

“They should also see how to address the current challenges affecting our economic, social, security and other vital areas of human endeavors in order to move the country forward,” he said.

According to him, since the inception of his Administration, measures had been put in place to stabilise salaries and pensions payment with a view to have credible nominal roll that would reliably drive the payroll, block leakages, improve cash flow management and cut unnecessary spending.

Earlier, the State Head of Civil Service, Yahuza Adamu, appreciated Governor Bala Mohammed for his administration’s investment in the civil service and tasked workers to reciprocate the gesture by supporting the present administration in the state to succeed in the implementation of policies and programmes.

Also, the Chairman of NLC in the state, Comrade Dauda Shuaibu, expressed gratitude to the governor for the payment of Ten thousand naira Wage Award to all workers in the state and urged him to sustain it so as to alleviate the current economic challenges being experienced by workers.