Former Cleveland Police officer sent intimate photo of a colleague to a friend

A police officer sent an intimate photo of a junior colleague to his friend in order to "show off" about their sexual relationship, a misconduct hearing has heard.

The Cleveland Police officer also made "disrespectful" and "derogatory" comments about the female student officer when he shared a photo of her "in a state of undress".

The man, known only as PC A, resigned from the force ahead of a disciplinary hearing in Hartlepool on Monday (4th April).

The former officer had admitted two allegations in relation to his relationship with the young female officer, and two relating to breaching confidentiality in a murder case.

The hearing was told that in early 2020 he had taken a photo of a confidential briefing sheet, featuring a picture of a murder suspect, and sent it to his wife "for personal reasons, because they had been discussing the case".

He was later fined £400 at a magistrates' court after pleading guilty to a Data Protection Act offence, the panel heard.

Panel chairman Gary Sydenham found that the officer would have been sacked if he was still serving.

"Imbalance of power"

Stephen Morley, prosecuting, said PC A started a relationship with the student police officer, known as PC X, when he was 38 and she was in her early 20s.

Mr Morley said:

"One of the concerns that arises is the imbalance of power between an older gentleman and experienced police officer in a position of rank, and a young female student officer who had been training for about 17 months."

He told the panel they had exchanged messages and had sexual relations on just one occasion at her home.

Mr Morley said:

"PC A sent a sexual image of the female officer to another man who was not a police officer, we assume he was a friend."

He said the "intimate photo" of PC X "showed her in a state of undress, exposing parts of her body" and was "sent to another man without her knowledge".

The panel heard PC A also "made disrespectful comments" in the messages, telling his friend, "Probationers are class, "She's on my shift," and "Game as f***".

Mr Morley said PC X sent the photo to PC A "and was very upset to find he had sent it on".

The panel heard that PC A had admitted the allegations and said he "was showing off to a friend of his about the sexual relationship he was in with this young female officer".

PC A admitted four allegations in total; conducting a personal relationship with a junior officer; forwarding a personal image of a junior colleague, identifying them as a police officer and making crass, inappropriate and disrespectful comments; taking a photograph of confidential police information and sending it to a relative; and being convicted of committing a criminal offence.

"Trust betrayed."

Mr Morley said that the second two allegations arose in early 2020, when PC A was an acting sergeant on duty at a police station in Cleveland.

He was seen by another officer taking a picture on his personal mobile phone of a "confidential internal briefing sheet containing information about a murder and a person suspected of that murder," it was said.

The officer reported what they had seen and PC A admitted taking the photo to send to his wife.

Mr Morley said:

"His wife is not a police officer, he had sent it to her for personal reasons because him and his wife had been discussing the murder."

The panel heard that when his phone was examined, messages were also found in which PC A and his wife were "talking about what had happened, in particular about injuries and how they had been caused".

Mr Morley said:

"It was an inappropriate conversation to be having with his wife about a confidential murder investigation and of course it was inappropriate to have sent an image to his wife about an ongoing investigation."

He told the panel PC A had admitted "multiple breaches of standards" which were "serious failings".

He said:

"The poor young lady that was entering into this sexual relationship with a supervisor had her trust betrayed."

Mr Morley added he had breached the trust of Cleveland Police and of the public.

The panel found that PC A "would have been dismissed upon each and every allegation" if he had not resigned from the force.

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