Dorset and Wiltshire fire service picture claims: No criminal offences found

Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service said it was "deeply concerned" by the allegations

A police investigation into claims firefighters took photos of car crash victims and shared them on WhatsApp has found no evidence of criminal offences.

ITV News reported in January that male firefighters at Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service (DWFS) were alleged to have made degrading comments about the women in a group chat.

Dorset Police said an inquiry into the ITV allegations had been concluded.

DWFS said the police probe had been "thorough and robust".

Following the allegations broadcast in January, the fire service alerted Wiltshire Police along with Dorset Police who conducted an investigation which included setting up an anonymous reporting phone line.

A statement said: "Dorset Police conducted proportionate enquiries and has found no evidence amounting to any criminal offences to support the allegations made within the ITV report.

"Both Dorset Police and Wiltshire Police are satisfied that a thorough investigation has taken place and these inquiries have now concluded."

Wiltshire's Assistant Chief Constable Deb Smith and Dorset's Det Supt Lindsay Dudfield said: "We take allegations of this nature incredibly seriously as demonstrated by this thorough and impartial investigation."

Assistant chief fire officer Andy Cole welcomed the police findings.

"We hope the outcome provides confidence to our communities about the professionalism they can expect from our service," he said.

An independent panel is continuing to investigate claims of sexual harassment within DWFRS and is due to report in the autumn,

"We are committed to listening to their findings and enacting their recommendations as we continue on our cultural journey," Mr Cole said.

In the ITV News report, a female firefighter said: "There's explicit pictures, there's photos of accidents, sometimes you can even see the dead body in the accident.

"Retrieving the body of someone dead should tear you apart, not make you want to take photos of it, just to joke about it later because that's someone's loved one, isn't it? That's someone's relative.

"I've seen people say comments about the type of underwear the women are wearing in the car crash.

"It disgusts me that I have to work alongside people like this. People aren't in the job for the right reason. I think they're just power hungry and they get off on it.

Following the report, chief fire officer Ben Ansell called such behaviour "completely abhorrent".

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