Officer messaged vulnerable teen on social media

A police officer who asked to meet a vulnerable teenage girl after first contacting her on social media has been found to have committed gross misconduct.

Northamptonshire Police said it would have dismissed Mitchell Shorley without notice if he had not already resigned two weeks before his hearing.

A misconduct disciplinary hearing on Wednesday heard that Mr Shorley, who joined the force in March 2022, started messaging the 16-year-old via TikTok on 12 June 2024.

Chief Constable Ivan Balhatchet said he was "appalled" by the "abhorrent behaviour", adding: "This is a serious case of an officer using his position to attempt to exploit a vulnerable young woman."

The girl, known as person A, regularly posted videos about mental health and welfare on her TikTok account.

She was a "looked after child" in the care of the local authority, and her social media posts reflected her personal history.

Mr Shorley messaged her and introduced himself as a police officer and began a series of communications, the hearing was told.

Whenever there was a break in contact, it was the police officer who started messaging again, often under the pretext of checking the teenager was OK.

She was willing to communicate with Mr Shorely but later told police she felt he had groomed her.

Inappropriate purpose

On 6 July 2024, he suggested moving the conversation to the social media app Snapchat, which does not retain message history and allows users to share images.

The hearing was told there was no suggestion that any sexual images were sent, but that Mr Shorley sent photos of himself while on duty.

Person A reported feeling "spammed" by more frequent messages once they moved to Snapchat, saying the messages also became suggestive and flirty.

On 13 August Mr Shorley allegedly told the teenager, "You'd look good with a police officer boyfriend", and admitted to having a crush on her.

He suggested meeting in person, which made the teenager feel uncomfortable, at which she pointed she spoke to a member of staff at her home who reported the case to police.

Mr Shorley did not attend the misconduct hearing.

Chief Constable Balhatchet added: "I believe that on the balance of probabilities, the evidence proves that the former officer's conduct was cynical, manipulative and that this was an abuse of his position for an inappropriate sexual purpose.

"The public need to know that there is no place in the police service for people that abuse their position for their own ends or exploit the vulnerable.

"My decision is therefore that the former officer would have been dismissed had he not resigned."