PSNI officer dismissed after sexual relationship with witness and evidence tampering

A PSNI officer has been sacked following a Police Ombudsman investigation into a sexual relationship with a woman he met on duty, evidence falsification, and witness intimidation.

PSNI officer sacked over "catalogue of corruption" involving witness, falsified records and intimidation

A Police Service of Northern Ireland officer has been dismissed after a Police Ombudsman investigation found he had initiated a sexual relationship with a woman he met while taking her statement on duty, Google News IE — Crime (en) reports.

Ombudsman Jacqui Durkin described the officer's conduct as a "catalogue of corruption" that had "the potential to do serious damage to public trust and confidence in policing".

The case originated from an assault allegation made to police by one woman, referred to as woman A, against another, woman B, towards the end of 2018. Woman B subsequently made a counter allegation against woman A.

Police officer A was assigned to investigate both allegations. He asked a colleague, police officer B, to take a statement from woman B — which he did. The ombudsman found that police officer B did not disclose he had previously been in a sexual relationship with woman A in 2016 and remained in social contact with her.

Within 24 hours of meeting woman B to take her statement, police officer B contacted her through Facebook and Snapchat and began a sexual relationship with her. A short time later, the pair were living together. They had a child before the relationship ended in early 2020.

Ms Durkin described his actions as "appalling".

"Every action he took from the point he chose not to disclose his original conflict of interest with woman A compounded his failure," she said. "It is appalling that within 24 hours of meeting woman B he had taken advantage of his position as a police officer to contact her and to form an inappropriate relationship with her."

She added: "The power imbalance between a police officer and a woman who is not only accused of a crime but has also alleged that she was a victim of a crime herself could not be more stark."

The ombudsman found that five weeks after police officer B had taken woman B's original handwritten statement, he produced a typed version, changed the date on which it had been taken, and brought it home for her to sign. Woman B told investigators she was unaware of the implications of signing the altered document and said her account had not been changed.

Police officer B also replaced his own name on the statement with that of police officer A, then asked police officer A to sign it, claiming he knew woman B because she lived near some of his family members. Police officer A refused and reported the matter to his supervising sergeant.

A further conflict of interest emerged when investigators established that, one week before taking woman B's statement, police officer B had been appointed investigating officer for an assault allegation involving woman B's former boyfriend. That investigation continued until March 2019, running concurrently with his relationship with woman B. He did not disclose that he was living with her, in an intimate relationship, and that she was expecting his child.

Ms Durkin said police officer B had accumulated three separate conflicts of interest across ongoing criminal investigations simultaneously.

"He has not disclosed his original relationship with woman A. He has not disclosed his relationship with woman B and also attempted to conceal it by falsifying an official record and trying to make a colleague complicit in his lie," she said. "And, finally, he has not disclosed that he is investigating woman B's ex-boyfriend."

The investigation extended to a further incident in 2021. Another woman who had been in a relationship with police officer B reported receiving a threatening, anonymous letter shortly after he had been made aware he was under investigation for his conduct with vulnerable women. The letter contained an intimate photograph of the woman and threatened that further images would be sent to her family. The only person she had shared the photograph with was police officer B.

Two weeks before receiving the letter, she had also received a phone notification indicating he had downloaded all images she had shared with him. When investigators examined his phone, it contained 51 images of the woman, including intimate photographs consistent with the one she had received anonymously.

Ms Durkin said: "This officer abused his position with a woman who was vulnerable, given she was not only accused of a crime but also alleged she was a victim of crime. He lied, he attempted to get a colleague to support his deceit and he sought to bully and intimidate a former partner."

The case had been referred to the Police Ombudsman by the Chief Constable for independent investigation. Ms Durkin said it was vital that officers who chose to behave in such a manner understood there would be serious consequences.

"Police officers know the standards which are expected of them and the professional boundaries which they must not cross," she said.

Source: Google News IE — Crime (en)