Yorkshire police officer 'abused his position and took advantage' of vulnerable woman

Christopher Bolton was called to a domestic incident at the woman’s property in August 2020, when he was a police constable working in York.

An Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation found he returned to the property twice and had “some sexual contact” with the woman, before they began exchanging WhatsApp messages.

North Yorkshire Police said he “viewed an inappropriate image of the female, touched her breasts, exchanged images of an inappropriate, intimate and or sexual nature and engaged in conversation discussing the possibility of forging a relationship with her”.

Mr Bolton also submitted a risk assessment, which falsely stated that she was at a high degree of risk.

The IOPC said he then attempted “to conceal his wrongdoing” by deleting messages from his mobile phone and asking the woman to do the same.

At a misconduct hearing earlier this month, the panel found his actions amounted to gross misconduct and if he was still serving with the force, he would have been dismissed.

Miranda Biddle, regional director for the IOPC, said: “Police officers are held to high standards when it comes to their interactions with members of the public and they are expected to conduct themselves professionally.

“Police constable Bolton abused his position and took advantage of a member of the public he knew was in a vulnerable position. In doing so, he breached the police standards of professional behaviour, betrayed their trust and risked seriously undermining public confidence.

“The verdict sends a clear message that this behaviour has no part in policing and he will now be barred from working for the police in future.”

Last month, North Yorkshire Police dismissed police constable Jason Brooks after he was caught drink driving while off duty.

And in November, the force announced detective constable Quita Passmore had been given a final written warning after she ran a red light, while responding to an incident in an unmarked police vehicle, and caused a crash which injured two people.

In a statement, the force said: “ These actions resulted in a vehicle collision and two members of the public sustained serious injuries.

“DC Passmore was responding to a call for all units to provide urgent assistance and had activated the blue lights and siren on her vehicle.

“The actions resulted in a conviction for DC Passmore on February 3, 2021, of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. DC Passmore admitted that her conduct amounted to gross misconduct and the panel concluded the same.”