Castleford police officer sacked over sex allegations
- Published
A misconduct hearing held via video link at Wakefield District Headquarters was told the officer asked the woman for sex and suggested she arrange a threesome
A police officer accused of asking a vulnerable woman for sex after meeting on duty has been sacked.
PC Darren Booth, 40, was said to have propositioned her while he and a colleague responded to reports of anti-social behaviour in Castleford in 2019.
A misconduct hearing was told that he went to her flat alone and suggested the complainant arrange a threesome.
The officer denied the allegations and claimed he was set up but was dismissed without notice.
The misconduct hearing was told PC Booth and a colleague met the woman, known as Miss A, and her friend, Miss B, when they were dispatched to Castleford town centre on 7 March last year.
It heard the West Yorkshire Police officer began flirting with Miss A before saying he wanted to "meet up on a regular basis to have sex".
He then made further sexual comments when he visited her flat at the end of his shift, the panel was told.
'Sexually motivated'
The officer had claimed he only went to the address to gather intelligence on counterfeit cigarettes and wanted men.
But the panel's independent chairman Geoffrey Payne said the officer's explanation for being there alone after midnight was not credible.
When two police sergeants arrived at the flat after being tipped off by Miss A, Mr Payne said, PC Booth offered no explanation as to why he was there and "looked anxiously at the floor".
Although PC Booth was of exemplary previous character and Miss A was an alcoholic former drug addict with a string of convictions for dishonesty, this did not mean the panel would automatically believe him, Mr Payne said.
The panel concluded the officer's actions towards Miss A had been "sexually motivated and exploited the power imbalance between them".
Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, external, Twitter, external and Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk or send video here.
- Published24 August 2020
