Former police officer jailed for hiding paedophile boyfriend in her wardrobe

Shaun Fox was found naked, with knife in Tara Woodley’s cupboard

Registered sex offender Shaun Fox, 36, was found naked in Tara Woodley's wardrobe with a knife and mobile phone (SWNS)

A former police officer who hid her paedophile boyfriend in a wardrobe as she helped him evade capture by the police has been jailed.

Tara Woodley had previously denied to her former colleagues she knew where registered sex offender Shaun Fox was when they asked her. She eventually told police she thought he had killed himself because of the national manhunt for him.

But on the fifth search of her house in Werrington, Peterborough, officers found the 36-year-old naked in a wardrobe with a knife and a mobile telephone.

Fox had been on the run since April 2018 when police received allegations he had committed sexual offences including inciting a child under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity.

Woodley had been dismissed from the police force for discreditable conduct in 2016.

She has now been jailed for four months after she pleaded guilty to assisting an offender.

Peterborough Crown Court heard it wasn’t until 1 August 2018 when her address was fully searched.

Both Fox and Woodley were arrested and it later emerged that the former officer had bought a mobile telephone for the sex offender to use to evade capture.

Woodley pleaded guilty to assisting an offender, while Fox was charged with inciting a child under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity, two counts of failing to comply with notification requirements of the Sex Offenders Register and four counts of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

Fox had previously been sentenced to five years when he appeared at Peterborough Crown Court in January.

Speaking after the case, detective sergeant Paul Stimpson, from the north Public Protection Unit, said: “My team and I continuously work in an environment of managing constant risk, having to deal with the most divisive, manipulative and dangerous offenders within our community. The sentencing reflects the severity of Fox’s offending and highlights the continuous threat he poses to young people.”

Additional reporting by SWNS