Police officer failed to record woman's rape report

Ipswich Crown Court heard that Ryan Althorpe repeatedly requested video and phone calls, as well as asking for photos

A Suffolk policeman who was sexually inappropriate towards a woman who had told him she had been raped has been convicted of misconduct in a public office.

Ryan Althorpe, 33, had been serving as a temporary sergeant based at Woodbridge when the offences took place between November and December 2020.

The officer, who resigned from the force, was found guilty after a five-day trial that heard about message exchanges and requests for photos on Facebook.

Deputy Chief Constable Rob Jones described Althorpe's actions as "an appalling abuse of trust". He is due to be sentenced in September.

Althorpe, of Meadow Crescent in Ipswich, denied the offences but was found guilty of:

• attempting to engage a female in sexually inappropriate conversation with a view to engaging in sexual activity with that person

• wilful neglect to record her disclosure of a non-recent rape allegation

She reported a the rape allegation to him over Facebook, which Althorpe failed to record.

The force said that while the conversation started out positively, the tone changed and Althorpe repeatedly requested video and phone calls as well as asking for photos.

Shortly after that the victim, who was in her 30s, reported the messages to the force.

Trust 'exploited'

Once the allegations came to light, Althorpe was suspended from all duties, including operational duties as an officer in 2021.

He resigned from the force in June 2022 and was charged in May 2023, and is now due to be sentenced on 11 September.

Deputy Chief Constable Jones said: "The victim was vulnerable and quite rightly reached out to him for help and support as he held a position of trust that he completely exploited.

"He showed no respect for the position of authority and trust that the role of a police officer holds and I am ashamed of his actions as he was a serving police officer at the time."