Former Northamptonshire police support worker jailed after arriving with lube to meet ‘15-year-old’ in KFC car park

A former Northamptonshire police support worker has been jailed after he admitted agreeing to meet who he believed to be a 15-year-old girl.

Alex John Foster previously of Tilbury Road, East Haddon, appeared at Lincoln Crown Court on November 17 to be sentenced after he pleaded guilty at the same court on September 8 this year to three charges relating to the sexual communication with a child, including arranging or facilitating and intentionally encouraging or assisting.

The now 43-year-old, who was a police safety training officer for the Northamptonshire force for more than 20 years, began talking to a ‘15-year-old girl’ - who was actually an undercover police officer - on social media in July.

When they began talking, the ‘girl’ told Foster that she would turn 16 the following month. Gurdial Singh, prosecuting, told the court Foster was “under no illusion about her age”.

Foster, who was a police trainer until 2021 when he resigned from his training post, went on to ask the ‘girl’ what she was comfortable with and what experience she had “with lads”. He told the ‘girl’ that he was 42 and was “looking for someone to have sex with”. The court heard that Foster also said he “needed to be about to trust her” as “she could be an undercover police officer”.

Two days after the conversation started, Foster blocked the ‘girl’ before she reached out on another social media platform and the conversation resumed.

Over the course of two weeks, sexually explicit content was exchanged between the two parties. Foster also shared sexually explicit photographs, the court heard.

Mr Singh told the court that a meeting had been arranged but Foster “wanted to cancel and then changed his mind”.

On August 10, Foster made the journey to the meeting and was arrested in a KFC car park in Newark, Lincolnshire where the meeting was arranged. Condoms and lubricant were seized from his vehicle.

When later questioned about the items, Foster told police that they were items he “ordinarily carried”, the court heard.

Foster had also previously been the subject of a police misconduct hearing in 2019, the court heard.

In defence, barrister Siward James-Moore said: “The facts of this case are clear and they do not make for pleasant listening.

“He is of previous positive, good character given his long service and he is of low to medium risk of reconviction.

“He was a hard working man who fell off the rails. It was out of character and aberrant behaviour and not the making of the man.”

Mr James-Moore also said he has the support of his father, who was in court.

In sentencing remarks, Recorder House said: “You believed you were meeting a 15-year-old girl. Your intention was to have sexual intercourse. The activities that you intended is why this offence is so serious.

“You were in a position of trust because of working for Northamptonshire Police. That impacts the public perception.”

Foster was sentenced to two years in prison. He will also be subject to a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

Speaking after sentence, DI Kim Jackson, from the force’s Counter-Corruption team said: “We are pleased with today’s outcome which reflects the gravity of these appalling offences and follows an investigation by the team which, ultimately, uncovered someone who was seeking to have sexual relations with a child. The sentence today reflects the seriousness of these offences and demonstrates how this force will stop at nothing to root out police officers and staff whose conduct falls below the line or, as in this case, is wholly criminal.”

IOPC Director of Major Investigations Steve Noonan said: “Mr Foster’s actions were abhorrent in sexually communicating online with a person he believed to be a child and then arranging and travelling to meet them for sexual purposes. He has rightly received a prison sentence for his appalling behaviour. We directed the investigation by Northamptonshire Police’s counter-corruption unit and I am grateful to their officers for their professionalism in helping to bring this offender to justice.”

Foster resigned overall from Northamptonshire Police last month, the day before a gross misconduct hearing.

He will also be added to the College of Policing barred list preventing future employment with the police service.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article referred to Foster a police officer. We have been advised that as Foster was a police safety training officer and he should therefore be referred to as a police support worker. The article has been amended and we are happy to clarify the situation.