Police officer claims PC ex attacked her

A WOMAN who claims her police officer former partner attacked her several times said he turned into a ‘monster’ when he had been drinking.

The woman, who is also a police officer and lived in Huddersfield with Pc Dean Wolstencroft, was giving evidence against her former partner at a West Yorkshire Police misconduct hearing.

Pc Wolstencroft denies six domestic violence allegations – each one of which would amount to gross misconduct if proven.

The allegations were outlined by counsel George Thomas as the hearing opened at Force HQ in Wakefield.

It is claimed that he slapped his partner across the face while on holiday in Cyprus.

It is claimed the officer pushed his partner against a radiator at their home and on another occasion threw a cigarette lighter which hit her in the eye. Mr Thomas said that one another occasion the officer placed his partner in a ‘choke position’ when she was eight months pregnant.

Mr Thomas said the alleged incidents happened when the officer was off-duty.

The panel heard from the officer’s former partner who provided evidence of the alleged assaults.

The woman, a police officer since 2005, said Pc Wolstencroft had been drinking when he slapped her across the face on holiday in Cyprus.

“Without warning he just slapped me across the face. I was in shock.”

The woman said her partner was a heavy drinker whose behaviour could change ‘like a switch’.

She recalled being pushed into a radiator at home, saying: “All of a sudden there was an almighty push. I was lifted off my feet and landed on the radiator.

“I tried to take a breath. I have never felt pain like it in my life.”

She spoke about an incident in September 2015 when she was hit in the eye by a cigarette lighter.

She said Dean told her he hadn’t intended to do it and that the lighter had got caught on his dressing gown. She attended Huddersfield Royal Infirmary where she told a doctor she had injured her eye on the corner of a table.

She told the panel that wasn’t the real cause.

Asked why she hadn’t gone to the police, she said: “The shame and embarrassment. I didn’t want my family to find out.”

The panel was told that Pc Wolstencroft and his partner broke up in January 2017 but there had been two further alleged incidents in 2018 as they continued to share a house.

The former partner recalled being ‘grabbed round the neck’ by him during an argument.

During another incident she claimed a slap across her face.

She was asked by Mr Thomas whether she had ‘made it all up to get him out of the house’.

She said: “I wanted him to stay. When he wasn’t in drink he was fine.” It was suggested that she was the one who had been aggressive towards him. She replied: “I am not that kind of person. I joined the police to protect victims and the vulnerable. I am not like that at all.”