Retired police inspector cleared of sexual behaviour

A retired detective inspector has been cleared of unwanted sexual behaviour towards a junior colleague who he messaged about a job.

Following a two-day hearing in Portishead, a panel ruled Andrew Greaves' actions towards the police officer - named PC A during proceedings - "had a legitimate policing purpose" and did not amount to misconduct.

The hearing heard Greaves' actions had made PC A feel "awkward and extremely uncomfortable" but the panel said that, "while it acknowledged her feelings, the officer had no reason to believe his behaviour was unwanted".

The panel did find Greaves' use of a work laptop to write a book breached the standards of professional behaviour.

However it said the matter could have been dealt with at the time by Greaves' managers, rather than through a misconduct internal investigation by the Avon and Somerset Police standards department.

In relation to the accusations relating to his actions towards PC A, the hearing was told Greaves briefly spoke to her as he headed home from his shift leading the criminal investigations team (CID) at Bridgwater police station because he recognised her.

PC A told him they had met at an incident involving a sudden death months earlier.

Greaves, who had offered short-term attachments with CID to hundreds of uniformed officers during his career, then asked PC A if she was interested in such a placement.

The panel disagreed with the claim that she made it clear she was not interested, and that there was therefore no need for him to send her a follow-up message, which the force's barrister Mark Ley-Morgan had called "unwanted and flirtatious".

Panel chair Craig Holden said Greaves' decision to log onto the force's database to find her name minutes after arriving home was for a policing purpose of recruitment.

He said the detective inspector's message to PC A was "entirely consistent" with what he had done many times previously to follow up an in-person discussion about a CID attachment.

"It was an important part of his remit and therefore the search had a legitimate policing purpose," Holden said.

"There was no suggestion of posturing, touching or reference to her appearance," he added.

The panel rejected Ley-Morgan's branding of Greaves as a "serial chaser of very young women".

Holden added there was no evidence to support the claim that Greaves' actions amounted to "conduct which had the purpose or effect of violating the dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment" for PC A, or that she received less favourable treatment because she was a woman.

The panel's chair said Greaves and PC A were both credible witnesses.

He added that Greaves had clearly reflected and learned from what had happened.

The retired detective inspector, who now works as a manager, burst into tears as he was cleared of misconduct.

He had also been accused of using his work laptop to write a fictional book about a "young girl" which contained sexual references.

However, the panel agreed with the ex-detective inspector that the character in question was in fact in her 20s and that there were "no references to sexual abuse or anything overly sexual in nature".

Announcing the decision earlier, Holden said: "The only breach found was discreditable conduct in relation to the use of the laptop to write a book but this was not sufficient to reach a finding of misconduct.

"It could have been dealt with by management advice or reflective practice," he added.

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