Special PC posed as woman to exchange sexual images

Kyle Daisley was appointed chairman of Worcestershire County Council after his arrest

A special constable and councillor who set up a fake Facebook profile to pose as a woman and exchange explicit images with men has been found to have committed gross misconduct.

Kyle Daisley, a former chairman of Worcestershire County Council, used the account to contact 52 men, a Warwickshire Police misconduct panel heard.

The 26-year-old apologised and told the hearing he was "having a joke", but Chief Constable Debbie Tedds said she was was satisfied the purpose had been for sexual gratification.

The panel concluded he would have been sacked had he not already resigned and he has been barred from serving with another force. Worcestershire County Council said safeguarding procedures were followed.

Mr Daisley, who stepped down in December 2023, had been arrested in August 2022 by another force on an unrelated matter, and had his devices seized.

That revealed he had set up the fake Facebook profile using a picture of an unknown woman under the fictional name of Chloe Taylor.

Most of the conversations had been deleted, but in communications with four men he was found to have exchanged sexually explicit images and messages.

Appointed chairman

No further action was taken against Mr Daisley by that force, the panel was told.

He was suspended by Warwickshire Police following his initial arrest, but the Bromsgrove councillor went on to be appointed as chairman of Worcestershire County Council in May 2023.

In his time at the local authority he has also been chairman of the children and families panel, and had also began leading the scrutiny task group looking into Children's Adolescent Mental Health Service.

"I apologise for any upset I've caused," Mr Daisley told the misconduct panel. "It was a joke. I did it in jest."

He had accepted that he committed misconduct, but had denied gross misconduct.

Daisley resigned as a special constable at Warwickshire Police in December

Ms Tedds said the men involved "were deceived" and "not in on the joke".

"Some may have suspected it, but when questioned you denied it and then called the police to further your deception," she said.

Mr Daisley confirmed he had been challenged by one of the men he was communicating with and had denied it was a fake account, rather claiming he had been hacked.

He later shared screenshots of himself calling police on 101 to report it.

"I accept that was a mistake," he said.

"I accept it was a totally stupid decision on my part.

"I've never been in trouble in any of my roles before. I've made a mistake and I take responsibility for my mistake."

Representing him, Insp Steve Martin, from the Police Federation, said he had not gained any sexual gratification from his actions, but the panel rejected that.

"It's gross misconduct as, you are clearly culpable, I accept your actions were misjudged but you should have known better, known not to do it at all and known when to stop," Ms Tedds said.

"It's potentially damaging to the men if this had been made public. Such behaviour is serious and can undermine the public's trust in the police."

At the time of his arrest, Mr Daisley was also head of the Severn Valley Railway guards department, but was suspended by that organisation.

The BBC has approached the local Conservative association.

A spokesperson for Worcestershire County Council said it wanted to reassure residents that "keeping people safe" was "at the heart of what we do".

"We can confirm Warwickshire Police notified us of the hearing and the allegation being considered. This concerned misconduct during their employment with Warwickshire Police.

"Whilst the individual is not an employee of the county council, we can confirm that safeguarding procedures have been, and continue to be followed."