‘Jealous’ detective bombarded firearms policeman ex with thousands of messages

A constable ‘bombarded’ her firearms officer ex-lover with thousands of messages and phone calls after their relationship ended.

DC Debra Mackrell, 43, was found guilty of harassment for making over 1,600 anonymous phone calls to her ex, Paul Brewster, 53.

She also made threats to tell superiors he was mentally unfit to handle a gun to get him kicked out of firearms unit SO19.

Mackrell, from Milton Keynes, was cleared of stalking him, claiming he kept talking to her “because he loved the attention”.

Yesterday, she showed little emotion as jurors found her guilty by majority verdict of a lesser charge of harassment after nearly five hours of deliberation at Inner London Crown Court.

Mackrell began her campaign against Mr Brewster when she became convinced he was cheating on her with another colleague – a fixation which later moved on to another woman.

Mr Brewster, an officer of 21 years, claimed the campaign of harassment went on for a year after the relationship ended, but reignited in March 2019 when she sent him a holiday brochure from a company they had used as a couple.

The court was told Mackrell did it to “run up a flag to say ‘I’m still here.”

David Povall, prosecuting, said her behaviour showed “a degree of obsession.”

He said: “She harassed her ex-partner over a period of months by bombarding him with messages, by making nuisance phone calls, by turning up at his place of work and travelling home with him, ultimately by sending him unwanted post while she was awaiting trial for this case.

“One of the things that contributed to the end of that relationship was that Paul Brewster found that Debra Mackrell is very possessive and very jealous.”

She also made threats to ruin Mr Brewster’s career as a firearms officer.

Mr Povall added: “He received sometimes dozens or hundreds of calls in a day.

“The messages to him were starting to escalate to threats that she would take action to damage his career and go to the Directorate of Professional Standards and suggest that he was not mentally fit for carrying firearms.”

Mr Povall showed the jury sample pages of text messages where Mackrell continuously contacted Mr Brewster over a period of 12 hours – even continuing when he begged her not to.

It was only after her arrest on October 6, 2017 that the extent of her communication came to light.

Downloads made from two phones seized from her revealed the texts – sometimes hundreds each day – and around 1,600 phone calls.

While awaiting trial she was arrested again after a brochure from a holiday company they had used as a couple was posted to Mr Brewster’s home and was traced back to her.

Mr Povall said: “In March 2019, once there had been no further contact and the calls had ended, he received an envelope – a large A4 envelope, and when he opened it up he found it contained a brochure was from a holiday company for holidays in Cyprus.

“He was not on their mailing list but that was a holiday company he used with Debra Mackrell when they were in a relationship.

“Enquiries were made to see where that came from because it had come signed for Royal Mail Service.”

CCTV of a post office where the letter was sent from showed Mackrell with the envelope.

Mr Povall added: “We suggest the clear intention of that was to fly up another flag to say ‘I’m still here.’”

Judge Freya Newbery adjourned the sentencing for reports.

She said: “I don’t think this crosses the custody threshold so I’ll be looking for a community potential and information about that.”

Mackrell was released to return to the court in October.