Hunting women: Policeman who preyed on DV victims jailed

When professional standards police first called Amanda* to ask her how she knew policeman Andrew Craig Adams, she professed he was the nicest policeman she’d ever met.

He had offered to buy her coffee during her darkest days, messaged outside of work hours offering support and even flirted with her a little over what would turn out to be four years of contact.

Then a bombshell dropped. She was one of a string of domestic violence survivors being contacted inappropriately by a person they thought was their knight in shining armour. A policeman and former church pastor.

A meticulous notetaker, Amanda arrived to meet professional standards police armed with a folder of information.

In it were pages of text messages, phone communications and diary notes of odd things that didn’t quite sit right, so much so she’d call her mother for advice.

“He once wanted to catch up with me at 10pm at night. I had to make up an excuse, that I had a migraine, but it seemed weird,” she claimed.

“At the time, my ex was a prolific offender, I was being stalked. Andrew Adams genuinely pretended he was worried for me and the only person in my corner. The white knight in this horrible situation.”

A decade ago, Amanda’s abusive partner hit her with an intervention order claiming she was the violent one, and sent her a message to say “payback’s a b--ch”.

Following a lawyer’s advice, Amanda called the Greensborough police station to tell the police informant she was holidaying overseas when the alleged break-in at her ex-partner’s house was meant to have occurred.

“He made me convinced his hands were tied but that he was really worried about me. Family violence had only just got on people’s radars back then, 10 years ago, and when the senior constable said he had previously worked for the Heidelberg family violence unit for a stint, I thought he must know the system.”

Adams later messaged Amanda telling her he “had goss” when her ex-partner was arrested for beating up his new partner.

Then Adams’ messages started asking to catch up, that he wished he were in bed next to Amanda as she grappled with suicidal thoughts. The last message came in February 2021, two months before he was arrested.

Amanda later faced court, telling a magistrate what had happened to her. While her allegations didn’t progress to the County Court, those relating to four other women did.

On Friday, the former senior constable was jailed for what a judge described as calculated, sexually motivated offending that eroded the trust of the community when it preyed on vulnerable women he met through work.