Leicestershire Police officer sacked for biting attack on woman

Senior officers said such behaviour would not be tolerated by the force

A police officer who pinned a woman to a bed and bit her in a sexually-motivated attack has been sacked.

Jake Cooke-Wilkinson met the woman at a late-night bar in Leamington Spa in August 2022.

A misconduct panel heard the Leicestershire Police officer told her he was "turned on" by her "pretending" she did not want to have sex.

The panel found his actions were "deliberate", "very serious" and amounted to gross misconduct.

The hearing was told the woman - referred to only as Miss A - went back to the officer's house but made it clear she did not want sex.

He then asked to be bitten, admitting to the panel he "got gratification from giving and receiving pain".

After touching her body, Mr Cooke-Wilkinson picked up Miss A, threw her on to a bed and pinned her down.

He then grabbed her chest and "bit her between her legs, over her clothing", before biting her "repeatedly on her left shoulder, bruising her".

Miss A eventually pretended to fall asleep and later reported the attack after colleagues she had told urged her to.

However, she did not want to proceed with a criminal investigation, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The panel ruled Mr Cooke-Wilkinson paid "little or no regard to whether Miss A consented to any sexual contact beyond kissing because of his desire to have sex".

His actions were "intentional and deliberate" and were "individually and cumulatively very serious", it added.

It rejected his claims of consensual conduct as "lacking in credibility".

Det Supt Rich Ward, head of professional standards at Leicestershire Police, said: "We take any report of this nature extremely seriously. This behaviour is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated by us in force.

"Building and maintaining trust and confidence in our force remains a priority. We continue to challenge any unacceptable behaviour which does not meet the professional standards which are rightly expected of us."