Northumbria police officer guilty of gross misconduct

Four of five accusations of misconduct were found proven during the hearing at Houghton-le-Spring police station

A police officer who sent messages to a woman asking for nude images has been found guilty of gross misconduct.

PC Robert Dobson of Northumbria Police was also accused of calling the woman "frigid" when she refused his request.

A misconduct hearing at Houghton-le-Spring police station, found four accusations of misconduct proven against PC Dobson.

He was cleared of a fifth allegation that he accessed a woman's police records without a good reason.

The panel, chaired by barrister Nick Hawkins, found one woman known as Miss A to be an "honest and truthful witness" and concluded she was telling the truth about the messages.

The hearing heard that PC Dobson sent messages to women employed by Northumberland County Council.

Known as Miss A, Miss B and Miss C, they cannot be named for legal reasons.

'Running joke'

The panel upheld an allegation that PC Dobson had consensual sex with Miss B, but when she learned he was also speaking to Miss A she said she felt "stupid".

Miss A said it was a "running joke" among council and police staff that PC Dobson would contact, or attempt to contact, any woman he met through his job as a neighbourhood PC in Blyth.

The panel also heard that the officer sent a photograph of himself to Miss A "in a state of arousal" and sent 52 memes - a third of which were "disrespectful to women or misogynistic" in nature.

The panel did not uphold an allegation that PC Dobson accessed Miss C's police record without a "proper policing purpose".