The Daily Mail
By CHRISTIAN GYSIN and ALUN REES

A policewoman is suing her force after discovering her sergeant husband was a bigamist - and that fellow officers kept the secret from her.


PC Helen Barnes found out only recently that when she married Sergeant John Coppen 15 years ago, he was already married.

Even more humiliatingly, she has since learned that for years senior officers allegedly conspired to keep the truth from her.

Now she is accusing Wiltshire Police of presiding over a hurtful cover-up and shielding Sergeant Coppen from being investigated for bigamy - an offence which can be punishable by jail.

The 40-year-old wants damages but also answers for her treatment. An internal inquiry by the force nine years ago recommended “no further action”.

She is unable to discuss the case for legal reasons but her brother Ian Barnes has written to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith demanding an investigation.

Mr Barnes said: “I have written to the Home Secretary and others to ask for the sort of basic investigation that would have been undertaken if John Coppen was a member of the public.

“My sister has been told the CPS has marked her file ‘no action’ but what does that file contain and what evidence has been seen?

“She has not even been interviewed over this matter. It is a farce.”

Sergeant Coppen’s first wife was Sandra Covey, whom he married in Florida on December 29, 1988. But she later learned that ten months into the marriage he had begun an affair with PC Barnes.

Sergeant Coppen contacted solicitors to arrange divorce proceedings and in June 1992 he married PC Barnes. That marriage lasted five years, with the couple divorcing in March 1997.

Matters would have rested there but for remarks PC Barnes heard about a year ago in the police operations room.

Her brother said: “Someone made a remark about her ex-husband and solicitors and it niggled Helen.

“She went to the registrar’s office and what she found absolutely stunned her - documents which proved John Coppen had divorced his first wife Sandra five months after he divorced Helen.”

Mr Barnes said his sister confronted her superiors and was told the matter had already been investigated by the force - even though she had never been told anything about it.

“They kept this from her for nine years and it amounts to a massive betrayal of trust,” her brother said.

Sergeant Coppen has since married for a third time. In November 1998, he married Lucinda Beech, now a personal assistant to Wiltshire’s assistant chief constable.

His first wife Sandra Covey remarried 11 years ago. The 47-year-old said she has not spoken to her ex-husband in over a decade and assumed her marriage was officially over.

It is understood that it was when she contacted Sergeant Coppen 11 years ago for confirmation that they were divorced that the bigamy came to light.

He is said to have discovered then that solicitors had not applied for the necessary paperwork. He then sued the lawyers who had represented him but did not tell PC Barnes of the mix-up.

Last night, he said: “When I found out I told the deputy chief constable and the matter was investigated.”

He said he had not told his second wife about the mix-up because when they separated she had “complained about his behaviour towards her” and he maintained he had been told by superior officers not to approach her or speak to her.

A Wiltshire Police spokesman said: “I can offer no explanation as to why PC Barnes was never interviewed about these matters as the original file documents were destroyed in line with force retention policy.”

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