Officer had breakdown before ‘flirting’, court hears

Matthew Peall, 47, who is based in Canterbury for Kent Police, is on trial at Southwark Crown Court

A serving police officer had a breakdown at work months before he allegedly sent flirtatious messages to a witness during a burglary investigation, a court has heard.

Matthew Peall, 47, who is based in Canterbury for Kent Police, is on trial at Southwark Crown Court accused of misconduct in a judicial or public office.

He allegedly shared flirtatious text messages, emails and phone calls with a care home manager while investigating the burglary of an elderly client in 2019.

On Wednesday the court heard a prepared statement given by Mr Peall during an interview with the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) over the matter in August 2020.

In the statement, the defendant said he “accepted there were flirtatious messages by text” sent to the complainant but no conversations had happened face-to-face.

He said he was struggling with his workload which had “taken its toll" on him at the time of the allegations.

Mr Peall had had a breakdown at work in March 2019 and subsequent problems sleeping, and all of these factors had “contributed to me foolishly engaging in these exchanges”, the court heard.

The court previously heard Mr Peall had visited the complainant’s house twice on 22 and 28 October 2019 to obtain witness statements about a burglary.

These were the only two occasions they met in person, and the complainant confirmed Mr Peall did not try to make contact with her or try to arrange a meeting at an external location.

Giving evidence in the trial, Gary Lidder, lead investigator for the IOPC, told the jury the complainant did not raise concerns to the police about the messages but that Kent Police conducted an audit on Mr Peall’s phone and identified a potential “abuse of position for a sexual purpose”.

A mandatory referral was then made by the force to the IOPC in February 2020.

The court heard Mr Peall was informed in 2021 that the criminal investigation was no longer active, but that this decision was appealed and reversed by the IOPC.

Ryan Dowding, defending, told the court Kent Police had no training package in place for officers in 2019 which covered “abuse of position for a sexual purpose” and no such package was introduced until 2021.

Mr Peall has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The trial continues.