Senior cop faces explosive allegations after suspecting affair, court told

A high-ranking Queensland police officer is accused of searching private information about one of the state’s top cops, who he suspected of having an affair with his partner who is also a cop, a court has heard.

Glenn William Horan has pleaded not guilty to using a restricted computer (domestic violence). Picture: Glenn Campbell

A high-ranking Queensland police officer is facing explosive allegations that he searched private information about one of the state’s top cops over a suspected affair.

Senior police officer Glenn William Horan is on trial in Brisbane Magistrates Court this week for allegedly using police database QPRIME to search information about Deputy Commissioner Cameron Harsley.

Horan has pleaded not guilty to using a restricted computer (domestic violence).

Barrister Kim Bryson, for the prosecution, told the court on Monday that Horan had allegedly searched the Deputy Commissioner’s address on October 10, 2021, because he had suspected he was in a relationship with his partner Celeste Batticciotto.

Ms Batticciotto, who is also a police officer, testified in court that “there was a lot of domestic violence” involved in her relationship with Horan in 2021.

Deputy Commissioner Cameron Harsley. Picture: Steve Pohlner

She said she had been at Deputy Commissioner Harsley’s property six days after the alleged QPRIME search to discuss home loans when she saw Horan at the back of the property.

Ms Batticciotto said she ran into a room “absolutely terrified” and texted Horan “are you tracking me”.

She said she had later confronted Horan, back at their shared address in Brisbane’s north, and that he had told her he had looked that address up on QPRIME.

“Glenn was angry, his face was red, he was fuming, he was slamming things down,” Ms Batticciotto said.

“... He said he would be in trouble. Because of Cameron’s rank, there would be an automatic flag on the address.”

Ms Batticciotto said Horan told her he had made up an “excuse” to another officer for conducting the search - that he had seen someone suspicious walking past the house.

“He told me that he would be in trouble and that this is my fault,” Ms Batticciotto said.

“... Glenn told me that I was a slut and he said that he would tell people and that once everyone found out that I was there that everyone would say that I was a slut.

“And he said that he would make a complaint to the CCC anonymously about Cameron to get him into trouble.”

Glenn William Horan outside court on Monday. Picture: Glenn Campbell

The court heard Horan had claimed to have searched the address lawfully after seeing suspicious behaviour while exercising near the Deputy Commissioner’s address.

Ms Bryson said the prosecution would allege this was simply an “excuse” for Horan to gain personal benefit from the information.

She said Ms Batticciotto had been friends with the Deputy Commissioner and would attend his house from time to time.

Police body-worn camera footage was played in court of police escorting Ms Batticciotto to Horan’s address on January 22, 2024, to pick up her belongings after their relationship broke down.

Officer Kerry McKay, of the Victim Protection Unit, could be heard explaining to Horan in the footage that Ms Batticciotto had accused him of domestic violence, including allegations that he had assaulted her and “threw her against the wall” on one occasion.

Horan, who is not accused of any wrongdoing in that regard nor been charged with any other offences, immediately denied the allegation saying “that’s not true”.

He explained to Sgt McKay in the footage that he had had an on-and-off relationship with Ms Batticciotto for about 10 or 12 years, and that there had been tensions over him not wanting to commit to her long term.

“It started as an affair, and that’s how it stayed,” he said.

In the footage played to court, he further played audio recordings to Sgt McKay from dates in December 2022, in which Ms Batticciatto could be heard yelling, and he claimed that she would throw things at him.

In the recording, Sgt McKay also asked Horan about Ms Batticciatto’s allegation that he had been “tracking” her, because of her claim that he had shown up at the Deputy Commissioner’s address.

Horan denied tracking Ms Batticciatto and claimed she was “paranoid”.

Magistrate Lewis Shillito noted Horan had implied later in the recording that he had been at the address by saying he was aware of who lived there and specifying that he did not knock on the door.

Defence barrister Saul Holt, instructed by Gnech and Associates, argued that the body-worn camera footage should be excluded from evidence because Horan was not cautioned or advised of his rights to a lawyer.

Mr Shillito agreed with Mr Holt’s submission that the questioning had been unlawful and excluded the body worn camera footage evidence.

On Monday afternoon, Ms Batticciotto told the court she had been concerned about Horan’s wellbeing around the time of the alleged offence.

She said she believed he had been taking endone tablets and that his behaviour “just turned completely manic”.

Mr Holt suggested she had not actually seen Horan outside the Deputy Commissioner’s house and that she was lying about his alleged confession - which she denied.

“I know what I saw and that was Glenn Horan,” she said.

Deputy Commissioner Cameron Harsley gave evidence that he had met both Horan and Ms Batticciotto through work.

“Celeste would visit on occasion on a Saturday afternoon at my residence,” he said.

He said Ms Batticciotto had claimed to see Horan through a window of his family room on one such occasion in September 2021.

“She jumped up off the couch, she said ‘that’s Glenn’... She was quite anxious,” he said.

Deputy Commissioner Harsley told the court when he looked, he saw a man just beyond his back fence that fit Horan’s description but that he didn’t see his face.

He said he rang Horan that afternoon and Horan claimed to have been elsewhere.

Deputy Commissioner Harsley said Horan had later told him that he and Ms Batticciotto were not in a relationship, but that she rented a room in his house.

The prosecution and the defence will deliver their closing statements Tuesday morning.