Policeman jailed for ‘sex kick’ attacks on women

Jeffrey Howard Davies was a family liaison officer with South Wales Police when the offences took place.

The women say they now live in fear of the police, with one suffering panic attacks following her ordeal.

Swansea Crown Court judge Paul Thomas told the disgraced 42-year-old he should expect a tough time in prison.

“The sexual assaults you perpetrated on these women were a gross betrayal of your position as a police officer,” he said.

“When a serving police officer behaves in the way you did, it has a huge impact on the way the public view the police. It makes the task the police face even harder than it already is.

“It is true that no one despises a rogue policeman more than his former colleagues.

“You took advantage and preyed upon vulnerable women for your own sexual ends.

“You targeted them as you viewed them as women who would obviously not have the confidence to complain or be believed if they did.

“Even if these women had agreed to have sexual relations with you, it still would have been a serious matter.

“You have not showed even a scintilla of remorse.

“Prison will prove difficult due to your status as a former police officer, but my ultimate duty is to redress the public’s confidence in the integrity of the legal system.”

During his two-week trial, the court heard that Davies’s role was to help victims of domestic violence. He had been with the force since 2000.

He vehemently denied the two counts of sexual assault, both in 2010, calling the allegations “nonsense”.

But the prosecution said he abused his position of authority to try to persuade his victims to have sex with him.

In the first attack, he rubbed the leg of a woman who had complained of domestic abuse while the two were travelling in a car discussing the case.

A victim impact statement read aloud by prosecutor John Hipkin said the woman had found it difficult to come to terms with what had happened.

She said: “What this man has done to me has traumatised me psychologically.

“I now panic if I see a male police officer in the street. I have even had to change doctors because I found out that my GP works at the police station.

“I always thought of myself as a strong person, but what this man did to me has shattered my confidence.”

The woman also said she felt embarrassed and that no one would believe her.

In the second attack, Davies forced a woman’s hand against his groin after he interviewed her, before asking her to perform a sex act.

She too had come to him for help after suffering domestic abuse.

In her statement the woman said: “I was angry and shocked after it happened.

“I did not think anybody would believe me because he was a policeman.

“I do not trust the police as fully as I used to.

“I’ve started having panic attacks again – I haven’t had them in four years.”

Defending barrister Lucy Crowther said her client had accepted there was limited mitigation that could be made given his not guilty plea, which a judge said had put the victims through even more stress.

She asked the court to impose a sentence nearer the sentencing guidelines for an offence of sexual touching – which has a lower starting point.

However, while Judge Thomas acknowledged that Davies had not engaged in “more intimate” sexual activity, he argued that there was a key difference in the case.

“The sentencing guidelines, if you excuse my inelegant phrase, fly straight out of the window,” he said.

As well as imposing a three-year custodial term, Davies was placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Throughout the hearing, the disgraced officer could also not bring himself to look towards the public gallery where several of his former colleagues sat.

South Wales Police’s Assistant Chief Constable Richard Lewis said: “His actions were a gross abuse of position and power which will not be tolerated within policing.”