Police officers' chats 'violated' female colleagues

The female officers described feeling "violated" and "preyed upon"

Two police officers were found guilty of gross misconduct for sharing photos of their colleagues in a "highly offensive" WhatsApp chat.

Insp Andrew McLullich and PC Paul Jackson discussed which officers they wanted to have sex with, leaving the victims to feel "preyed upon".

The officers resigned in 2022 before a Merseyside Police misconduct hearing.

The details were withheld until after an unrelated criminal trial in which Insp McLullich was a witness.

Graphic discussions

The trial came after Insp McLullich had been caught having sex with fellow police officer Stephanie Glynn in a Screwfix car-park by her husband, Gavin Harper.

Harper, himself a former officer, was cleared of assaulting Insp McLullich but convicted of stalking his estranged wife and handed a suspended prison sentence at Liverpool Crown Court.

While that case was in progress, Insp McLullich's phone had been examined by officers at the force's Professional Standards Department (PSD).

In the chat logs, they found messages sent between March 2020 and January 2021 involving pictures of female officers, references to women as "it" and "that", and graphic discussions of sex acts.

On 9 August, 2020, PC Jackson had taken a surreptitious photo of a female constable while she was on duty and sent it to Insp McLullich with the caption "on to you".

Gavin Harper, who was convicted of stalking his estranged wife after finding her having sex with Insp Andrew McLullich

'Totally unacceptable'

The independent disciplinary panel heard that on another occasion, Insp McLullich messaged PC Jackson with a Facebook picture of a "new girl on my block", and the pair made lurid comments about her.

Insp McLullich described how attractive one 19-year-old new recruit was and added she was "impressionable too".

In a written judgment, the independent panel said the pair had discussions about 10 separate female officers.

One of the women that was spoken to that were told the force they were “shocked and upset".

Another said they felt "insecure, vulnerable and preyed upon".

A third said they were "appalled, disgusted and violated".

The two officers admitted breaching Professional Standards, and were told they would have been immediately sacked had they remained on the force.

Det Ch Supt Cheryl Rhodes, head of PSD, said: "The behaviour both of these former officers engaged in was inappropriate, highly offensive and totally unacceptable."