PC should have declared alleged sex abuse - force

The anonymous officer, who is not pictured, resigned from Thames Valley Police in 2022

A police force said a former officer accused of sex with a teenage girl should have declared his alleged abuse on vetting forms.

The former constable joined Thames Valley Police (TVP) in 2010, but a complaint was made in 2021 accusing him of sexual activity with a 13 or 14-year-old girl before he joined the force.

He denies the claims and no criminal case has been brought against him, but after he resigned in April 2022, the force sought to hold a disciplinary hearing.

A High Court judge quashed a decision by that hearing’s chairman, who refused to preside over the case in August 2022.

He said this was because the alleged offence took place before the officer's police career.

Mr Justice Holgate allowed TVP’s claim for a judicial review and said proceedings into the case “must be determined by a differently constituted panel”.

The force said the former officer’s alleged sexual activity with the teenager should have been declared and that he would not have been recruited if it had.

It said his failure to do so was “dishonest, lacking integrity and disreputable”.

He was an adult at the time of the alleged offences.

The complaint about the ex-PC’s behaviour was made in October 2021 by a person who is not the alleged victim and made it without her knowledge.

The accuser told TVP they were “concerned about the need to protect women and girls” in light of the Wayne Couzens case.

By November 2021, the police concluded it would take no further action under criminal law into the officer’s conduct.

The alleged victim said they would not support a prosecution and the force concluded there was no realistic prospect of a conviction.