Nando’s: Solicitor’s reputation permanently damaged, say police
A solicitor from Cheshire who impersonated a police officer to try to get CCTV footage of his ex-partner dining out at a Nando’s restaurant has been given a 12-month community order.
Conor Johnstone, a director at MAJ Law in Warrington, returned to Leeds Magistrates’ Court on Monday to be sentenced, after he was found guilty of one count of impersonating a police constable last month.
The solicitor – who is 34 and calls himself ‘The Legal Missile’ – was also ordered to pay costs of £650 and a surcharge of £114, and to complete 260 hours of supervised unpaid work.
After the hearing, Cheshire Constabulary issued a Nando’s-inspired statement under the headline: “Come home to roost: solicitor who impersonated a police officer to spy on woman at Nando’s sentenced.”
Detective Constable Darroch, of the protecting vulnerable people unit, said: “You do not have to be a solicitor to know that impersonating a police officer is a very serious offence, so Connor Johnstone will have been well aware that his actions were illegal.
“Under the guise of this persona, and armed with a false email that would have looked legitimate to the uninitiated, Johnstone took advantage of two employees who were simply looking to assist with what they thought was an official police investigation.
“Johnstone clearly counted his own chickens before they hatched, as his decision to play pretend police officer has ultimately resulted him in causing permanent damage to his own reputation.”
Before this offence, Mr Johnstone boasted of representing the likes of ex-Liverpool striker Dean Saunders and Love Island winner Jack Fincham.
In his online profile, the solicitor described himself as someone who was “punchy, powerful and makes moves with zero hesitation”.
MAJ Law declared itself “the go-to drink driving firm in the UK” – helping motorists find “fault with police procedure” and “drink driving loopholes”.
Mr Johnstone created the persona of PC Matt Gregory to trick the chicken chain into handing over its CCTV footage so he could see if his ex-partner was having dinner at the restaurant with another man. She was said to be pregnant with their third child at the time.
When emails to the fake PC Gregory address he had given them failed to go through, Nando’s became suspicious and called Cheshire Police.
Officers established that the emails came from an account owned by Mr Johnstone, and his debit card had been used to pay for a domain name that enabled him to create the fake email address.
Mr Johnstone continued to call Nando’s and this time staff recorded the calls.
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