Cambridgeshire police officer 'sent sex messages to vulnerable women'

The Cambridgeshire police officer was found to have abused his position to access information about vulnerable women

A police officer abused his position by targeting vulnerable women with flirtatious and sexualised messages, a misconduct panel found.

PC Michael Latimer, of Cambridgeshire Police, was said to have accessed information about the women, including two domestic abuse victims.

The PC, who resigned from the force in 2020, was ruled to have committed gross misconduct at a hearing on Thursday.

He has been put on the police barred list.

Mr Latimer did not attend the two-day hearing where the panel concluded he would have been dismissed with immediate effect, had he not resigned, due to the severity of his actions.

The panel heard that between January and April 2020, Mr Latimer exchanged messages with the women after they had been victims of crime.

'Preyed upon'

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which investigated the case, said he accepted abusing his position in relation to one of the women and admitted exchanging sexualised messages with another.

A third woman said she felt "preyed upon" by Mr Latimer, but he maintained the contact was innocent, said the IOPC.

The police watchdog referred the case to the Crown Prosecution Service, which decided to take no further action.

IOPC regional director Graham Beesley, said: "By contacting vulnerable women, two of whom were victims of domestic abuse, for a sexual purpose after he had accessed confidential information about them, former PC Latimer abused the trust and power placed in him as a police officer.

"Inappropriate behaviour such as this has no place in policing, and damages the public's trust and confidence."

Dep Ch Con Jane Gyford, of Cambridgeshire Police, said: "I commend the courage shown by one of the victims in reporting this officer's behaviour and in supporting the investigation.

"Latimer's conduct was appalling and does not reflect the overwhelming majority of our officers and staff who reflect our true standards of behaviour."

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