Kentish Express Ashford & District
PC sacked for sexually assaulting teen at club
Officer received caution after grabbing woman’s breasts
A policeman has been dismissed without notice after groping a teenager’s breasts while off duty in a nightclub.
PC James Spencer, who lives in Ashford, was at the Cameo nightclub in the town centre in February earlier this year.
He admitted that he had inappropriately touched the breasts of the 18-yearold woman, named only as Miss A, whom he did not know, before she pushed him away.
The officer, who served in Deal, received a police caution for the incident, and his case was referred to a misconduct hearing at Kent Police headquarters at Sutton Road in Maidstone.
The charge against him stated that his behaviour fell far below that which is expected of an officer, bringing discredit upon the force and undermining public confidence.
Speaking at the disciplinary panel on Friday, Det Insp Danny Rose said Spencer had been out socialising with friends at the club when he approached the woman and her friends in the smoking area.
Det Insp Rose said: “The group were approached by two unknown men who began asking, then pestering, for a cigarette. They collectively refused.
“PC Spencer snatched a packet from one of the group, who snatched it back.
“Then a friend of Spencer lifted up Spen- cer’s shirt and said ‘surely abs like that deserve a cigarette’.
“Miss A went back into the club and CCTV shows PC Spencer approaching her table.
“He then put both his hands towards Miss A, grabbed both breasts and squeezed before she pushed him away and remonstrated with him.”
The hearing was told that the impact of the incident on Miss A “hit her like a hammer” and she felt her privacy had been “invaded”.
Door staff said PC Spencer was a regular at the club and initially, when they approached him, he denied what he had done.
He believed he had been escorted out of the nightclub for being too drunk.
Then, on March 29, following a police investigation, Spencer received a criminal caution for sexual assault.
His Police Federation representative, Neil Mennie, said that Spencer had admitted the charge and said he was “embarrassed and ashamed”.