PC offered colleague sex on female safety patrol

Project Vigilant is an operation to protect women who are out at night (stock photo)

A police officer has been sacked for making sexual remarks and propositioning a female colleague during an operation to prevent sexual violence.

PC John Thirlaway made the comments while on a night-time foot patrol in Oxford in April 2024.

He told his fellow officer he would like to have sex with her and made suggestive comments about her and a member of the public, a Thames Valley Police disciplinary hearing was told.

The panel found the officer guilty of gross misconduct and dismissed him without notice.

The panel said PC Thirlaway was a "leading figure" in Project Vigilant, which targets predatory behaviour towards women who are out at night.

During the patrol, he suggested the junior officer should sleep with a married man and commented on a woman's body, it found.

The panel said the officer had caused "psychological distress" to his colleague and had put the reputation of the police force at risk.

It added that he showed an "apparent lack of understanding or insight into the allegations found proven against him".