PC dismissed for filming himself committing a sex act
An officer from South Wales Police has been dismissed after sending videos of himself in uniform engaging in lewd behaviour to a vulnerable woman.
Police Constable Christopher Leach faced nine allegations of gross misconduct, five of which were proven at a hearing that concluded at Cardiff County Hall today (November 26).
PC Leach met the 35-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, after she witnessed a crime in Cardiff, Wales. After speaking to the woman at her place of work, he went to her home address to ask her to sign a witness statement and gave her his personal phone number.
PC Leach said the pair started out as friends but that the situation quickly became more intimate. The relationship ended in February 2017 but began again in June 2017 at which time PC Leach sent the explicit videos.
PC Leach was found to have created and sent the videos while on duty on two separate occasions on June 7 and June 19, 2017. The panel also found the officer had committed two breaches of “honesty and integrity” by seeking to mislead his supervisor by failing to disclose the full extent of contact between himself and the woman.
The panel found that PC Leach sent an explicit video of himself while on duty on a third occasion, June 8, 2017, but it was not proven that the video had been created while he was on duty.
Two allegations of the officer having sex with the woman while on duty and an allegation of conducting an unlawful computer check on the woman for no policing purpose were found not proven.
PC Leach was also cleared of the allegation of having an improper sexual relationship with a person who was vulnerable to an abuse of power.
He was dismissed without notice.
Superintendent Mark Lenihan of the South Wales Police professional standards department said: “The overwhelming majority of our employees work tirelessly to serve their communities with honesty and integrity demonstrating the very highest levels of professional conduct at all times.
“PC Leach’s behaviour fell well below these standards and this case has demonstrated that we take complaints and information relating to individual conduct extremely seriously and will always ensure they are thoroughly investigated and appropriate action is taken.
“There is no place for anyone in the service who cannot secure the confidence of their colleagues or undermines the public’s trust in policing.”
