An experienced police officer has been sacked after pursuing a student cop and then engaging in sexual conduct with her at a police station during a nightshift. PC Christopher Armstrong admitted it was wrong but insisted it was 'consensual'.
He was said to have driven to the junior colleague's home and 'groped' her and a month later tried to have sex with her in a shower room after giving the probationer a tour of Middleton police station.
Now he has has been sacked by Greater Manchester Police following a disciplinary hearing. He is one of 158 serving GMP officers accused of sexual misconduct in the last five years.
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PC Armstrong had been with the force 13 years while the woman was a student officer who had been with GMP for just a year when the incidents happened in August and September, 2019.
He drove to her home on August 18, 2019, even though she couldn't remember giving him her address, and said she had to push him away when he tried to kiss her and groped her bottom, according to the disciplinary panel's published ruling.
Then, on September 15 he tried to have sex with her at Middleton police station after giving her a tour of the building at 10pm, at the start of his nightshift. He was said to have taken her into a shower room where he locked the door and the pair engaged in 'consensual' kissing, according to the ruling.
The young officer, referred to only as 'Officer A' in the document, alleged 'further non-consensual and unwanted activity took place'.
The woman said she pushed the officer's hand away and told him 'don't do that', and PC Armstrong put his clothes on and left. PC Armstrong admitted 'sexual contact' with the junior officer at the station but said it was entirely consensual.
His accuser took sick leave and was later diagnosed with anxiety and depression, according to the judgement.
The pair got to know each other after PC Armstrong sent the junior officer a message on Facebook, and the messages became 'flirtatious and sexual'. The disciplinary panel accepted there was 'mutual attraction' between the pair.
The female officer 'went along with some of the things' that happened in the shower room as she did not want a repeat of comments said to have been made that she was 'cold or closed off', according to the panel.
The panel found the younger officer's account had 'flaws and weaknesses' and concluded she was 'not an entirely reliable historian'. They also expressed concern about the 'accuracy' of PC Armstrong's evidence which was sometimes 'implausible'.
PC Armstrong said he had been told by the woman where she lived prior to him driving to visit her on August 18, 2019, three days after an intimate picture had been sent to him. He recalled she was in her pyjamas and slippers when she came to the door and she asked him to park further up the road.
The woman said she repeatedly screamed at him to 'get off' although PC Armstrong denied he had tried to deliberately grab her bottom. He conceded he may have 'accidentally brushed' her rear as the pair embraced. He said he was 'startled' by her reaction and let go of her immediately.
The disciplinary panel found the hug had been 'forceful' although the pair resumed the flirtatious messaging.
The next time the pair met was at Middleton police station on September 15, 2019, where PC Armstrong was on a night shift and the woman officer was working on her diploma portfolio.
The older officer took the probationer cop to the shower room where the pair kissed and PC Armstrong was said to have boasted he'd had sex with another officer there, according to the disciplinary panel.
The panel found both officers went into the shower room 'for sexual purposes' but that PC Amstrong had gone 'beyond' what PC A was comfortable with. The pair met two days later in Tandle Hill Park but the junior officer said she could not recall whether they had kissed, as he had claimed.
The disciplinary panel ruled PC Armstrong was guilty of 'sexual misconduct'. They added: "He neglected his duties. He did so for sexual purposes. The fact that he might have responded to emergencies misses the point; being merely available is not what is expected of police officers. Police officers patrolling is a benefit to the public. The removal of that benefit is a detriment.
"The panel also find that there was premeditation and planning to this breach. The plan to meet involved at least contemplated sexual activity on duty in a police station, even if the details were to be resolved when the circumstances were clearer."
The panel slammed a 'serious breach of trust' and said PC Armstrong 'must have realised that there was at least a chance that the level and speed of sexual contact would have surprised and upset Officer A'.
Their judgment went on: "At a time when police resources are under pressure the public would rightly be deeply concerned about this conduct and it would substantially effect public confidence, playing into unfair stereotypes, and effecting the public’s view of all police officers. The fact that PC Armstrong neglected his duty for sexual reasons also adds to the risk of discredit."
Announcing that only instant dismissal was appropriate, the panel concluded: "Simply neglecting duties is serious. Doing so for sexual purposes is worse, doing so with a degree of planning, and while committing a separate breach of standards with regard to respect for another officer is worse still and makes this a case where only dismissal without notice can be justified."
A spokeswoman for GMP confirmed no action was taken against Officer A and that she remains with the force.
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