A FORMER policeman is £200,000 out of pocket after being forced to quit for spying on his wife and her lover, it has been revealed.

Former Accrington crime prevention officer Andy Liptrott, 47, escaped a jail sentence yesterday when a judge heard his admission of guilt to seven charges of misconduct in a public office meant he could not collect his police pension until he was 60.

Had he stayed with the force for one more month he could have collected it at 50. The delay will cost him £200,000 and the court was told he is to appeal the decision that he is not entitled to it.

At court yesterday, Liptrott was ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid community work, after Judge Robert Brown said: "The only one to suffer any real damage from this case is you."

Preston Crown Court heard how father-of-four Liptrott discovered his wife of seven years had been having a brief affair with his best friend.

After pressing the mother of two of his children for more details about the illicit liaison he then posed as a higher ranking officer in order to obtain CCTV footage from a date the couple had been on at Apple Jax and the Henry Tate pub in Chorley.

Gerald Jones, prosecuting, said: "At Apple Jax he indicated he was involved with an ongoing and complex operation to do with hand bag thefts and would call to collect the tape the following day. The owner felt uncomfortable but told the manager to comply."

Liptrott, of Todd Lane North, Lostock Hall, then pretended to be investi-gating credit card fraud to get tapes from Henry Tate, but the police were alerted and he was identified on CCTV footage.

The court also heard how he went on to use Lancashire Police's Sleuth computer system to check record's of his wife's lover and then later used the system to track the investigation following his arrest.

Rick Holland, defending, described Liptrott as 'tortured' and going through an 'emotional maelstrom'.

Passing the community order sentence, Judge Brown said: "There have been devastating financial effects because of your honesty and admissions of these offences at an early stage.

"It is a very heavy price you have already paid."

Det Supt Martyn Lever-idge, of Lancashire police’s professional standards department, said Liptrott’s actions fell below the standards expected of a police officer.