A Greater Manchester Police custody detention officer has been dismissed without notice after a hearing found he committed gross misconduct by sending a woman unsolicited sexual messages, photographs and videos while he was on duty.
The one-day hearing on Friday 29 May ended with the staff member being barred from policing for life. He was found to have breached standards covering honesty and integrity, authority, respect and courtesy, instructions and discreditable conduct.
The woman, who had attended the custody suite at Bolton Police Station in May 2024 to act as an appropriate adult for a child, made several attempts to report his behaviour in the weeks that followed. The force referred the complaint to the Independent Office for Police Conduct on 13 July, triggering an investigation into how the contact began and what happened next.
That inquiry found evidence that he repeatedly sent sexual messages, along with photographs and videos, and that he sent pictures of himself in uniform while at work as well as an image of his penis. In interview, he admitted to investigators that he exchanged phone numbers with the woman and that the messages became sexual.
The case also included allegations that he had used police systems to obtain her number and that he had touched her inappropriately. Investigators did not find evidence to support either claim. The Crown Prosecution Service later decided not to charge him with any offence.
The disciplinary outcome leaves no ambiguity about where the case ended. He has been placed on the barred list and cannot work in policing again, closing off any return to a force role after conduct that the panel said crossed the line from personal misconduct into behaviour that brought the service into disrepute.
