A solicitor has been sentenced after being convicted of impersonating a police officer in an attempt to obtain CCTV footage from a restaurant.
The case was heard at Leeds Magistrates’ Court, where Conor Johnstone, from Altrincham, received a 12-month community order and was ordered to complete 260 hours of unpaid community work following his conviction.
The offence related to an incident in July 2025, when staff at a restaurant in Warrington received a telephone call from a man claiming to be a police constable investigating an alleged domestic incident. The caller requested CCTV footage of two individuals who had visited the restaurant the previous evening and asked staff to send the recordings urgently.
To support the request, the caller provided what appeared to be an official police email address and asked restaurant employees to complete the necessary CCTV release process.
The matter came to light after staff attempted to verify the request and discovered that the email address was not associated with Cheshire Police. Following further enquiries, police confirmed that no officer by the stated name existed within the force.
Investigators later established that the email domain used in the request had been temporarily registered by Johnstone. Registration details, including his date of birth, telephone number, and address, assisted officers in identifying the individual responsible. Authorities also found that one of the people captured in the requested CCTV footage was personally known to him.
Following the conviction, Cheshire Police described the offence as a serious misuse of public trust, noting that the false identity and convincing email address led restaurant staff to believe they were assisting with a genuine police investigation.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is expected to consider the matter as part of its regulatory processes. According to the SRA register, Johnstone was admitted as a solicitor in 2016 and previously worked for a criminal law practice in north-west England.
The case serves as a reminder that impersonating a police officer is a criminal offence and that organisations should verify requests for sensitive information before disclosing personal data or CCTV footage.
