The officer was ‘nearly caught’ by his son on one occasion, which he described as a ‘wake up call’

A police sergeant has been struck off for having ‘phone sex’ with a student officer and sending ‘flirtatious’ messages to another trainee.

The officer – who has not been named – was ‘nearly caught by his son’ on one occasion.

A disciplinary panel has found that the police sergeant, who worked in Dorset, committed three counts of misconduct between April 2021 and May 2022 by pursuing the improper relationships with staff he was directly in charge of.

Chairman Deni Matthews imposed the anonymity order preventing the identification of the officer.

He said doing so would ‘protect the welfare of family members of the officer concerned.’

Dorset Police’s legal counsel Ian Darcy told the hearing: ‘Between 1 June 2021 and 31 May 2022 the officer pursued and established an improper emotional relationship with Officer A, a student female officer within Dorset Police.

‘The officer sent text messages to her that were improper, flirtatious and of an unprofessional nature.

‘Officer A was junior in rank and status to the officer, and he held direct supervisory responsibility for her.

A hearing was held at the headquarters of Dorset Police in Winfrith

‘She also reported being a victim of domestic abuse during this time, which the officer was aware of.’

Officer A also told the hearing she had gone back to the officer’s home after a night out and engaged in a ‘consensual sexual act’ with him.

The hearing was then told that, between 13 April 2021 and 26 May 2022, the officer pursued and established an improper emotional relationship with Officer B, a student female officer within Dorset Police.

He then sent messages that were ‘improper, flirtatious and of an unprofessional nature.’

Officer B had said that messages from the officer began about four weeks after she joined the officer’s team and he would call her ‘sweety’ and also send messages with kisses, the hearing was told.

Mr Darcy said that the officer had also sent flirtatious messages to a third officer, referred to as Officer C, who he also kissed in the garage of his home.

He said: ‘He was nearly caught by his son, which he said was a massive wake-up call, but only a few weeks after this moral epiphany, this wake-up call, he was engaged with flirtatious messages with Officers A and B.’

The sergeant did not attend the hearing at the force’s headquarters in Winfrith, having previously admitted the allegations and having quit the force in August 2022.

In a statement read to the court, the officer of 20 years’ service, who has received commendations for his service, apologised for his actions and said he was ‘personally disappointed with myself’.

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The officer was ‘nearly caught’ by his son on one occasion.