Jessica's family 'feel betrayed'

Leslie and Sharon Chapman feel 'betrayed' by Stevens

Murdered Jessica Chapman's family have told how they feel betrayed after their ex-police liaison officer was jailed for perverting the course of justice.

Cambridgeshire Det Con Brian Stevens, 43, was sentenced to eight months in prison on Friday for giving a false alibi when accused of porn charges.

Stevens read a poem at a church service for murdered Jessica and her friend Holly Wells, both 10 and from Soham.

The service was "tainted" by the conviction, the Chapman parents said.

"We would like to express our sense of huge disappointment in Brian Stevens," they said in a rare public statement.

"We asked him to read a poem on our behalf at the celebration of life service at Ely Cathedral.

The use of our grief as part of Brian Steven's defence in this trial has left us with a sense of betrayal Jessica Chapman's family Stevens 'betrayed us'

"Now, seeing him convicted, has forever tainted what should have been a poignant reminder of our daughter Jessica's life."

In the witness box, Stevens spoke of his intimacy with the Chapmans as he tried to present himself as an honest police officer.

"The use of our grief as part of Brian Stevens' defence in this trial has left us with a sense of betrayal," the Chapmans said.

"However, the rest of the team have restored our faith throughout an incredibly harrowing time."

The allegation against Stevens stemmed from an earlier case in which he had been accused of downloading indecent pictures of children on 9 June.

Stevens was convicted of conspiring to pervert the course of justice, at the Old Bailey.

The jury decided he had lied to police by saying he was with Crown Prosecution Service case worker Louise Austin, 32, when the images were taken and that he did not have his computer with him.

Stevens was sentenced to eight months in prison for conspiracy

At the time, he had been undergoing treatment for a foot injury at the police rehabilitation centre, Flint House, in Goring-on-Thames.

Austin was jailed for six months, suspended for two years, for the same conspiracy offence, as she had given a statement to police supporting the alibi.

Stevens was arrested at his Cambridgeshire home in September 2002, after his name came up in Operation Ore, a UK-wide trawl of internet paedophiles.

Indecent images of children were found on his laptop but the court case was dropped for reasons that had nothing to do with the alibi.

Following his arrest, Stevens denied all knowledge of the child porn, saying the computer had been with him at Flint House but that he had allowed other people to use it.

But he later changed his story, telling police he did not have the computer with him at Flint House.

Communication 'blizzard'

Instead, he claimed to have spent the night more than 100 miles away at Louise Austin's home, comforting her after she was dumped by her married boyfriend.

On 14 August, 2003, six days before his trial over the computer porn was due to start, Austin provided a witness statement confirming that he had been at her house when the images were said to have been downloaded in the police centre.

During the trial, the prosecution produced evidence, including mobile phone records and credit card transactions, which proved Stevens had in fact been in the area of Goring-on-Thames and nearby Windsor when the alibi said he was at Austin's home.

Prosecutor Peter Joyce QC said there was "a blizzard of communication" by telephone between the pair from 1 May to 21 August, 2003, which showed "the conspiracy in action".

Stevens, who was suspended from his job, now faces disciplinary action and could be sacked.

Det Supt Paul Craig, head of professional standards at Cambridgeshire Police, said internal disciplinary proceedings were underway.