A Derbyshire police officer has been convicted of misconduct in a public office after he and a colleague both had sex in a patrol car with a woman to whom they had offered a lift home.
PC Matthew Longmate, 47, was found guilty after a four-day trial during which he denied the accusations, claiming it would have been “physically impossible” for the encounter to have taken place.
The trial at Southwark crown court heard that on 4 October 2015 Longmate and his colleague PC Daniel Nash were on a night patrol in Chesterfield when they came across the woman, who had been drinking and had been ordered to leave a nightclub.
They offered the woman a lift home, and it was while they were in the police vehicle that, the woman said, sex with the two officers had taken place.
Giving evidence, Longmate said the alleged acts would have been “physically impossible” in the close confines of the car. He also said he would have been wearing police equipment, including a stab vest and utility belt containing a baton and first aid kit, which would have been hard to take off inside the car.
“It’s very difficult. It’s very time-consuming,” he told jurors. “You would have to get out of the car to take the equipment off. It’s very cumbersome.”
The jury were told Longmate’s whereabouts were unaccounted for on police records between 2.16am and 4.12am, with the defendant saying he was unable to remember what he had been doing during that time.
Nash had previously pleaded guilty to 14 counts of misconduct in public office for a number of separate incidents involving women he met through policing, including victims of domestic violence. He received a two-year suspended sentence because of ill health and died of cancer in September. The outcome of those proceedings could not be reported until the conclusion of Longmate’s trial.
Longmate claimed Nash had lied in his statement, which said both of them had had sex with the woman, and said that although he recalled giving the woman a lift home, he denied being involved in any sexual activity.
Steve Noonan, director of major investigations at the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which helped bring the prosecution, said: “PC Longmate targeted a lone woman who was in a vulnerable position in a town centre late at night.
“She should have felt safe in this situation but instead he and his colleague abused their position as police officers in a way that is a complete betrayal of the public trust placed in them.”
He added: “Police officers who abuse their power for sexual gain not only discredit their profession but breach the public’s trust and seriously undermine confidence in the police service.
“I recognise how difficult it must have been for the woman in this case to come forward and I want to thank her for providing evidence to the investigation and helping to ensure that PC Longmate has been held accountable.”
Longmate will be sentenced on 15 January 2024 and he will also be subject to disciplinary proceedings.
DCC Simon Blatchly from Derbyshire constabulary said the investigation had found “no wider knowledge or offending by any other officer or staff member”.
He said: “Matthew Longmate has been found guilty of a truly horrendous crime.
“Longmate not only failed to protect, but actively sought to use abuse his position while on patrol. From the evidence that was found, this appears to have been a single incident and he committed his offence in collusion with former PC Daniel Nash.
“Longmate has no place in policing and, following his guilty verdict, an accelerated hearing will take place to remove him from the force. I am deeply shocked and angered by his actions, as I know officers and staff are across the force.
“During that investigation, an initial victim led officers to 14 women in total that Nash had met through his work as a police officer.”
