Investigation into a report that an officer engaged in sexual activity with a member of the public while on duty – Devon and Cornwall Police, April 2023

A woman contacted Devon and Cornwall Police to report that her ex-partner had refused to return her house keys after the breakdown of their relationship.

The woman met with a police officer at the police station to discuss her report. The officer recorded that the woman had not disclosed any offences, and he advised her that it was a civil matter.

A few days later, a friend of the woman reported to the police that during the appointment with the officer, the woman had engaged in a sexual activity in front of him while he had his hand on her throat.

A police Sexual Offences Liaison Officer (SOLO) interviewed the woman, who said that the act had been consensual, but the officer had encouraged her.

We received a conduct referral from the force and decided to independently investigate the officer’s interactions with the woman, including whether the officer engaged in a sexual act with the woman in a police station while he was on duty, and whether he coerced or persuaded the woman into engaging in a sexual act with him.

Our investigators obtained and reviewed CCTV footage from the police station, mobile phone data, incident logs, and the officer’s handheld device used to record data. We took statements from the woman’s family, other officers who were on duty at the time, and the SOLO. We interviewed the officer, who denied the allegations against him, describing them as unfounded. The woman gave an account to Devon and Cornwall Police. We also consulted relevant policies, procedures and legislation.

We concluded there was an indication that the officer had committed a criminal offence and had behaved in a manner to justify disciplinary proceedings.

We found that the woman felt pressurised (although not coerced or forced) into engaging in sexual activity. The officer, rather than being a passive participant, played an active role in escalating the situation to the point where the sexual activity took place.

The public have a legitimate expectation that when they walk into a police station, they will be treated in a manner which upholds their dignity and protects them. The information the officer had available to him, indicated she may have been controlled by her ex-partner and was potentially experiencing mental health issues. She went to the police station to report a domestic matter, and this should have indicated to the officer that she may be vulnerable.

We referred the case to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in November 2023. They decided not to pursue criminal proceedings because the evidence did not present a realistic prospect of conviction for the offence of misconduct in public office.

We found that the officer had a case to answer for gross misconduct with regards to engaging in sexual activity while on duty, at a police station and during a meeting for a policing purpose. We shared our report with the force, who agreed. We decided that disciplinary proceedings should be brought against the officer and that they should take the form of a misconduct hearing.

The misconduct hearing concluded in October 2025. The officer was found not to have breached the police standards of professional behaviour, and no further action was taken. The decision about the officer’s conduct was reached on the balance of probabilities that such conduct had occurred.

The officer resigned from the force in January 2025.

We carefully considered whether there were any learning opportunities arising from the investigation. We make learning recommendations to improve policing and public confidence in the police complaints system and prevent a recurrence of similar incidents.

We did not identify any organisational learning in this case.