Former Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service firefighter avoids jail

Edward Snook, a former Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service firefighter, has been handed a suspended sentence after being found guilty of sexual assault.

His actions left the victim, who was 17 at the time, suffering sleepless nights and crying at work.

Reading a statement on her behalf, prosecutor Katie Johnson said: “As soon as the incident happened to me, I instantly went into fight or flight mode.

“Having to explain what happened to me made me feel numb.

“He abused my trust, my safety and me.”

The victim added that she has ‘lost trust and faith’ in the fire service.

She has also found herself screaming and jumping when approached by male colleagues at work, on occasion falling down to the floor in tears.

She said: “I was in constant fear, I had to ask for a lock on my door. I triple checked the doors were locked.

“I had to buy new bedding.

“I was scared I would bump into him in the street.”

Edward Snook (Image: CFRS)

Snook, who was 31 at the time, arrived at the victim’s address at 4am on April 29, 2023, asking her for a place to stay.

Having been provided with a blanket and a pillow for the couch, an inebriated Snook snuck into the victim’s room before climbing into her bed and touching her stomach, later performing a sex act on himself – at which point the teenager fled.

The victim previously told the court she had a panic attack in the living room, hyperventilating for around 20 minutes as she contemplated what to do next.

Snook, an engaged father-of-two, hung around for another two hours before eventually leaving the house at 6am.

The former company director of Knutsford-based Yellow Duck Removals Limited was found guilty on August 13, following a trial at Crewe Magistrates Court.

At the sentencing on Monday, September 16, Michelle Man, defending, said her client ‘still maintains his innocence’ and had been left ‘devastated’ by how things turned out.

“I do not anticipate this gentleman troubling the police or courts ever again,” she added.

Snook, now 33 and living on Pemberton Close in Knutsford, was sentenced to 26 weeks.

However, this was suspended for 18 months due to his ‘previous good character and no previous convictions’.

He must also complete 30 days of rehabilitation activity and 150 hours of unpaid work, as well as paying costs and surcharges of £804.

The magistrates also handed Snook a three-year restraining order, banning him from having any contact with the victim.

Chair of the bench, Christina Basnett, said: “We hope this will give her peace of mind.”

Speaking previously, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service chief fire officer and chief executive Alex Waller welcomed the guilty verdict.

He said: “First and foremost, our thoughts are with the victim of this offence and her family.

“We suspended the individual on the day he was arrested by police and he resigned from his role in July 2023.

"A disciplinary hearing held in his absence in November determined that had he still been an employee, he would have been dismissed for gross misconduct.”