PCSO convicted of outraging public decency was St Albans officer, not Holbeach

We have been asked to point out that a former police community support officer, convicted of masturbating behind the wheel as he watched a teenage girl walking down a street, was serving in the St Albans police force.
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Court news

Kelvin Mackenzie (49), of Cowfield Gould, Holbeach, was made subject of a community order.

The only male officer covering Holbeach is PCSO Ian Cripps and, although our reports in the paper and online have made it clear the defendant was a St Albans officer, many people have made the incorrect assumption that the convicted officer is PCSO Cripps.

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PREVIOUSLY: A former police community support officer, convicted of masturbating behind the wheel as he watched a teenage girl walking down a street, has been spared jail.

Intead, former soldier Kelvin Mackenzie (49), of Cowfield Gould, Holbeach, was made subject of a community order.

He had pleaded not guilty at Crown Court to committing an act which outraged public decency, claiming it simply wasn’t him or his car but he was found guilty after a trial last month.

Sentencing him today (Tuesday), Judge Christopher Morgan imposed a 12-month community order with 100 hours’ unpaid work and ordered him to pay £1,000 costs.

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The judge told Mackenzie: “What was in your mind that day, despite your constant denials, I simply cannot comprehend.

“Whether it was, as suggested by the Crown, simply an exercise of your inherent belief in the office of a police community support officer and the power and responsibility which goes with that and your knowledge how you thought you might get away with it, I simply don’t know.

“You were of good character and this has had disastrous consequences on your employment and on your relationship.”

The court heard that Mackenzie, who had been suspended, has now lost his job. He had been a full-time PCSO since 2005.

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The jury was told that a cyclist saw Mackenzie committing the act through an open window of a red Renault Megane at 4.50pm on 30 July 2014 as it slowly passed him in Faircross Way, St Albans.

At the time there was a teenage girl walking on the pavement and the car driver appeared to be “fixed” on her.

In his defence, Mackenzie said he was on his way home to Holbeach and his route took him close to Faircross Way but he didn’t drive down it. He suggested the witness had made a mistake in the registration number he wrote down or that it might have been cloned.

Mackenzie, a soldier in Northern Ireland in his early 20s, moved to Holbeach in November 2012 and had arranged a transfer to Cambridgeshire as a PCSO to be closer to his new home when the allegation was made and he was suspended.

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Mitigating, Raj Joshi told the judge Mackenzie had now lost his job. The conviction had ruined whatever thoughts he had of a career in the police service.

“It’s a matter of shame and regret for him,” he said.

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