Detective banned for inappropriate relationships

Simon Jones has been banned from policing.

A police detective who had inappropriate sexual relationships with two vulnerable women he met while investigating cases has been banned from policing.

Detective Constable Simon Jones, 54, from Bristol, committed gross misconduct, an Avon & Somerset Police misconduct panel ruled.

He would have been dismissed without notice had he not already retired in January and did not attend the hearing.

Legally Qualified Chair (LQC) Callum Cowx, overseeing the hearing, said Jones had "abused his authority and trust placed in him as a police officer."

Mr Cowx added: “The panel found that former Det Con Jones was a calculating opportunist who identified the women as women of means or status from whom he could personally benefit.”

The hearing was told one of the woman lent the detective money as a house deposit, reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The other woman denied there was any relationship but the panel found there was overwhelming evidence, including numerous times data from his iPad showed it was at her address overnight as well as hotels she had stayed at.

Head of Avon & Somerset Police professional standards department Superintendent Mark Edgington said: “We hope this outcome reassures the public we will take positive action to remove any officer who behaves in such an inappropriate manner.”

In April, a gross misconduct hearing into a separate matter investigated by the force’s counter corruption unit also ruled Jones would have been dismissed, had he been serving.

He texted a fellow Bristol detective to say two colleagues who were late to a briefing got away with it because they were Black.

Jones has been placed on the police barred list, preventing future employment with the service.