Sacked, the WPC who had a f ling with crook she was told to supervise
A PROMISING young policewoman was sacked yesterday after admitting an affair with a prolific offender she was supposed to be helping to turn his life around.
PC Clare Sherman-Potts, 25, was acting as the case manager for the criminal – who has nearly 90 convictions – when they began the fling after meeting at a party.
The relationship went on for two months before she told her force’s professional standards department.
She was suspended from duty on full pay and moved in with the offender, known only as Mr A, before they split up.
Suffolk Police’s temporary Chief Constable Gareth Wilson sacked Sherman-Potts at a disciplinary hearing yesterday after ruling that her behaviour amounted to gross misconduct due to her discreditable actions, and that she had failed to meet standards of honesty and integrity.
He noted she had a ‘glowing’ and ‘exemplary’ record and had been praised by senior officers, but said she would have known she was breaking rules when she started the relationship.
‘I have little doubt that she regrets the association with Mr A and recognises the gravity of her actions,’ Mr Wilson added.
The hearing heard that Sherman-Potts has made an allegation of domestic abuse against the offender, who has 89 convictions over a ten-year period.
Sherman-Potts, who joined the force in 2010, starting working in Ipswich with the Integrated Offender Management Scheme last November. The programme aims to improve the behaviour of persistent offenders by changing their lifestyles in conjunction with other agencies.
Mr A was released from prison on March 3 and was initially dealt with by another officer before Sherman-Potts took over as his ‘manager’ on March 11.
Their affair began when they met at a party hosted by a mutual friend on April 10.
Sherman- Potts finally confessed to a colleague on June 2 when she said she was ‘seeing this man and was unsure that she should tell her supervisor’.
She then made a full disclosure to the professional standards department on June 4, after
‘A moment of weakness’
which she was taken off the offender management scheme and became a response officer. Six days later she was suspended on full pay pending the outcome of the internal investigation.
Nick Wilcox, a barrister representing Suffolk Police, told the hearing at the force’s headquarters in Martlesham Heath that Sherman-Potts admitted in a further interview on July 14 that ‘she had known she had to talk to somebody’ from the force when she began the relationship.
He added: ‘She said she was no longer with the offender, was no longer in contact with him and had changed her mobile number.’
Sergeant Mick Richardson, the secretary of Suffolk Police Federation, who spoke on behalf of the disgraced officer, said her actions had not compromised police systems or operations and had caused only ‘ temporary embarrassment’ to the force.
Lessons would be learned and the mistake never repeated, he added, saying: ‘She succumbed to a moment of weakness.’
Sgt Richardson said Sherman-Potts had received ‘excellent commendations’ for her work, with one superintendent describing her as ‘brilliant’.
But Mr Wilson said: ‘ She acknowledged that she knew it was an inappropriate relationship to be in when she was supervising him as a prolific offender while she was a serving officer.’
Sherman-Potts refused to comment afterwards, but Sgt Richardson added: ‘It was said in mitigation that she followed her heart instead of her head, which she now obviously bitterly regrets.
‘She is going to get on with the rest of her life away from the police service and will hopefully recover from the stress she has been under for the last four months.’