The family of a retired cop have explained why they released the disturbing messages they found on his phone after he died.
Ricky Jones, 52, took his own life two years ago. He previously worked at Gwent Police until his retirement.
His family found some homophobic, racist and misogynistic messages shared with other officers on his phone and made the decision to make them public.
Messages on the phone showed serving and retired officers discussing sexual harassment of junior female colleagues.
They also made racist remarks such as "The Great Muslim Bakeoff" when referring to Grenfell Tower, homophobic jibes and some officers offering to illegally hide money.
The family say they released the messages after suffering decades of abuse and control at his hands.
Sharon, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, told WalesOnline how she was a victim of Jones.
The 55-year-old's daughter Emma shared how Jones treated her mum.
She said: "He used to do this thing as well where he would wind my mam up. He would say things to her like she was a bad mother, she was lazy, she was slovenly, she was dirty and that's why the children were dirty.
"And then when he got her in a place where she was shouting back, he would start opening the windows. And it was so that neighbours could hear my mother shouting. He was a very intelligent man.”
The horrifying messages were shared in The Sunday Times three weeks ago.
Jones had met Sharon when he was 19 years old and they married five years later and had three children.
Sharon said: "He wasn't physically abusive to me. But he did use to spit at me. But he would come right up close to my face.
"And he would deliberately enunciate words so that there was spit coming out at me. And I would say 'stop spitting at me' and then he would tell me I was wrong and that he wasn't spitting."
Sharon also described how she felt trapped in the relationship because he was a cop and had connections within the force.
Sharon said: “I remember one day going to him and telling him that I was going to report him to the police. He came downstairs the next day, because I always slept on the sofa, and told me 'don't bother going into the police station because I've been in and I sorted it.
"I've been and I've told them to expect you coming in and not to believe the words you say'.”
Emma says she saw messages on his phone that backed up his statements.
She said: “When I went through the phone after my father died, obviously I found loads of stuff to do with our case as well as the wider corruption in Gwent Police.
"He told two different people that he had been in to see an inspector within the force about my mother to stop her reporting him because he said he 'needed to protect himself', as the law 'will always look initially on the side of the female'".
Sharon tried to get a divorce and Emma said her father had gone to great lengths to stop it from happening.
Emma said: "He had been going to solicitors to see what would happen if they did get a divorce because my dad was retired and my mom was still working.
"My youngest sister was under 16 and the advice said if my youngest sister stayed with my mother, they would be 60/40 or 70/30 split in the divorce. My mother would keep the house, and that absolutely infuriated him.
“When I went through his device, I found that he had been to every solicitor in the area that dealt with divorce or actions against the police and he had created a conflict of interest.
"He sought advice, so he used those free consultations to say my mother was abusive, so when my mother approached them they said they couldn’t represent her because there was a conflict of interest.”
Sharon added: “I felt that he'd always got the upper hand, that he could always outsmart me and always do something to me.”
The family say they believe Jones' taking his own life was his final manipulation.
They say they found dozens of recordings where Sharon would sound angry after Jones wound her up but you could only hear her reacting.
Sharon said: “There were texts to an inspector. Ricky had texted him and said he had 70 recordings of me”.
There were phone messages where he called Sharon “a f***ing bitch” and “a drunken witch” — portraying her as an evil mother.
The family say that even after Mr Jones’ death they encountered serious issues. Sharon claims she was told by an officer she was going to be taken to a police station under caution to provide a statement for her husband’s inquest citing her supposed lack of cooperation but the family say she was never asked for one.
This is part of a long list of unanswered questions the family has. They are looking to pursue legal advice to try and get these answers and are trying to fundraise to do that. You can donate to their fund here.
Emma says it's been difficult going through her dad's messages but said it has been important to provide answers.
She said: "The first reason is that my mam stood between my dad and us three kids. She was the one that protected us from him.
"And then when he died, his abuse should have ended but the police have just picked up where he left off. This means that she doesn't have any chance at all at a normal happy life, because they have just continued that abuse and so that needs to be corrected.
“But on the other side of things, what we've learned from my mam's case is there's no escape. If you are the victim of a police abuser there's no escape for you. You don't get any help from the police.
"And then, through finding all the misogyny on the phone, I've come to realise that this has happened to loads of other women as well. What we've done is expose all of this.
"What I want is to show how much of a problem this is and that something needs to be done, it needs to be learned from, and this can't happen again.”
A spokesperson from Gwent Police said they could not comment on individual allegations but took professional standards of behaviour extremely seriously and would take action against any officer or staff member breaching them regardless of rank.
The force said: "We continue to be horrified by the allegations that have emerged to date. We are committed to taking action and we have suspended four officers and placed another officer on restricted duties.
"The IOPC are now leading on the investigation, and we are therefore unable to comment further on the ongoing matter."
Gwent Police's Chief Constable Pam Kelly previously described the content as "abhorrent" and "painting a picture of a toxic culture which does not represent" the force.
