A horrified mother who had her underwear stolen by a police officer has told how the ‘nightmare’ left her suffering sleepless nights and months of emotional distress.
Marcin Zielinski, 27, was caught rifling through Lea-Ann Sullivan’s drawers before grabbing a pair of underwear and slipping them into his back pocket during a visit to the property on September 12, 2024.
The Hertfordshire Constabulary officer admitted one charge of theft and a charge of corrupt/improper exercise of police powers and privileges by a constable and was jailed for four months on Monday.
While his sentencing has brought some ‘closure’, Lea-Ann is still reeling from the horrific year-long ordeal and has left her trust for the police at an all-time low.
‘I think I’ve cried, I’ve laughed, I’ve been angry. I feel vulnerable, feel scared. I just think I feel sick about the whole situation,’ the mother-of-two told the Daily Mail.
‘I’m constantly thinking, what did he want them for? Why did he take them? What’s he going to do with them? How many more people has he done it to?’
Lea-Ann felt so ‘violated’ by the incident that she has since got rid of all her underwear and the chest of drawers as it became a constant reminder of the harrowing video.
Her daughter, who is autistic, was also left reeling from the incident and is now so scared of police that she is reluctant to ever call them if she gets in trouble.
Lea-Ann Sullivan, pictured with her husband Grant, was left her suffering sleepless nights and months of emotional distress after her underwear was stolen by a police officer
Hertfordshire Constabulary police officer Marcin Zielinski, 27, who has been jailed for four months after stealing Lea-Ann’s underwear on September 12, 2024
‘Once I found out he had taken them, every time I looked into that drawer the video played back in my head,’ Lea-Ann added.
‘I had to clear my drawers and throw away all my underwear as they kept reminding me of the situation and I felt disgusted.
‘I would never have let him into my home if he was not a police officer and he has completely misused his position and trust to facilitate his own habits.’
During the night of the incident, Lea-Ann was arrested in connection with an unrelated matter and was later released with no further action taken.
But she was still in custody when her partner Grant first discovered the ring doorbell footage and was shocked by what he saw.
‘It wasn’t until a few days later that we looked back on the camera and saw the policeman going into the drawer and going back into the drawer.
‘On the footage he signals to the other guy “I’ve searched this room, go and search the other room”.
‘So he sent the other officer out and that’s when he proceeded to open the drawer and stick them in his back pocket.’
Ring footage shows Zielinski rifling through the woman’s underwear drawer in her bedroom
He hides the underwear in his back pocket and then slowly walks out of the room. He has now been jailed for four months
‘I was very shocked and angry to say the least. My wife was sick.
‘She still doesn’t go in the drawer now, she got rid of the cabinet.
‘My wife was in the cell still, so I went straight to the police station and reported it.’
The couple were then faced with further turmoil as Lea-Ann was forced to identify her underwear in a police parade in front of other officers.
‘Lea-Ann had to go and do an ID parade to identify the knickers.
‘We had to go to secret location to identify out of 15 pairs of knickers that they’d got from the officer’s house. The knickers weren’t there.
‘But the officer couldn’t deny it, because he was on film taking it.
‘There was 15 pairs of knickers, and who’s to say that he didn’t nick them from the other people?’
Zielinski can be seen during a search of Lea-Ann’s house after she was arrested
Lea-Ann revealed that her 13-year-old daughter, who is autistic, has also been left emotionally traumatised by the horrific incident.
‘My little girl keeps thinking well what if they took something from my bedroom because there’s no cameras in it.
‘When I got arrested, she was upstairs and her dad was downstairs. She said the officers just kept giving her dirty looks and made her feel uncomfortable.
‘So she got her teddy and went down and sat with her dad.
‘We told them my daughter is autistic and to be sensitive and quiet with the situation.
‘They didn’t. They just ripped it apart, were noisy, made a mess everywhere. They was quite disrespectful towards our house.’
Lea-Ann said her daughter is now scared of police and believes she will never approach a police officer if in trouble.
‘It has greatly changed how she views the police, and she is reluctant to go to the police in fear that she will experience similar or worse,’ she said.
Mother-of-two Lea-Ann pictured with her partner Grant
Lea-Ann believes Zielinski’s sentence was not harsh enough and believes he should be behind bars for longer.
‘I don’t think [his sentence] is long enough, but I’m all about teaching someone lesson.
‘Originally I thought it was just going to get a suspended sentence, because I really did not think they were going to take it seriously.
‘But I do think he does deserve to see the law from the other side. He can’t just have the power trip to get away with it.
Lea-Ann remains concerned that Zielinski was only caught thanks to their own ingenuity and fears what would have happened if he targeted someone else.
‘What about the people who can’t fight for themselves, that are elderly, that are vulnerable. What if that’s a disabled lady.
‘Or what if he takes it to the next level. Look at Wayne Cousens, he started flashing and he’s killed a lady.
‘I just don’t trust any of them, and I don’t even trust the women.’
The couple (pictured) have been left reeling from the incident and their trust in police is at an all-time low
Zielinski was also condemned by his force who said his behaviour represented a ‘fundamental betrayal of the public’.
The cop resigned from the force while under investigation in November 2024.
Hertfordshire Constabulary Assistant Chief Constable Genna Telfer said: ‘Zielinski has let down the public of Hertfordshire, the police service as a whole and his former colleagues, who act with professionalism and integrity.
‘His criminal behaviour damages the reputation of policing and represents a fundamental betrayal of the public and the values for which the police service stands.’
