Detective 'groomed and sexually assaulted' officer

A detective constable at Avon and Somerset Police is alleged to have sexually assaulted three female officers

A detective "groomed" and allegedly sexually assaulted a junior officer on three occasions, a police misconduct hearing has been told.

The married Avon and Somerset detective constable groped and kissed the woman in a remote location after engaging in "predatory behaviour", it was reported.

The panel heard he also engaged in inappropriate sexual behaviour towards two other female colleagues.

The officer, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies the allegations.

He attempted to alienate the junior female officer from her other colleagues in the force and, as her supervisor, engineered situations to be alone with her and told her to end the relationship she was in, the hearing was told.

'Uninvited' contact

Opening the case for constabulary, barrister Clare Hennessy said: "The inappropriate behaviour started on a night out. Thereafter he became close with Witness A.

"He contacted her on a regular basis and wanted her to contact him back on a regular basis.

"He proceeded to develop an overly friendly relationship with her and tried to spend significant periods of time with her, both on and off duty.

"There was physical contact between the officer and Witness A in a location they had separately driven to, and that physical contact was inappropriate, uninvited and it was a sexual assault on three separate occasions," she said.

'Public indignation'

Witness A told her friend and a counsellor about what had happened, the barrister said.

She spoke about a "supervisor at work who groomed her and tried to initiate sexual touching while in a remote location despite repeated requests not to do this", Ms Hennessy said.

She said the allegations involving the other two women were also inappropriate and sexual.

"It demonstrates this officer's general attitude which is entirely at odds with appropriate workplace behaviour and the standards that can and ought to be expected of a longstanding officer with many years in service," Ms Hennessy told the panel.

She said the officer's actions would result in "public indignation and undermine public confidence in the police service".

"The way this officer has treated these three witnesses was wholly inappropriate and sexual," she continued.

The hearing is due to end on Friday.