Detective sues own force for sex bias after it ignored claims that girlfriend abused him
A DETECTIVE is suing his own police force claiming that it ignored allegations that he was a victim of domestic abuse because he was a man.
Det Con Gareth Yates alleges that he reported his girlfriend to Cheshire Police for assault, theft and stalking but the force did not deal with his claims because of his gender. DC Yates, 35, who has appeared on Crimewatch on BBC television, said that if he was a woman reporting the same offences about a boyfriend the force would have taken action.
His claim was allowed to proceed by an employment judge who rejected the force’s attempt to have it thrown out.
DC Yates claimed his partner, who was not named, subjected him to abuse between 2013 and 2016. In a judgment from the tribunal, Judge John Sherratt said: “It is the claimant’s contention that the respondent did not record the offences that he alleged were committed against him by his then female partner, whereas had the police officer reporting crimes been female ... the allegations would have been recorded as crimes and dealt with accordingly.”
DC Yates reported several alleged crimes, including an assault, stalking and a series of malicious communications from his partner between 2013 and 2016, the tribunal hearing was told.
Cheshire Police tried to have the sex discrimination claim thrown out on the basis that because it was now investigating his claims there is no discrimination case to answer. DC Yates, however, said its decision to eventually investigate only supported his claim that it should have acted much sooner.
Cheshire Police added that defects in its crime reporting system, identified in 2017, were organisational and nothing to do with DC Yates’s gender.
Summarising the force’s case, Judge Sherratt said: “Further matters referred to by the claimant’s then partner, which could have been recorded as crimes against her by the claimant, were not recorded, thus again establishing that any defects in crime recording were not because of the sex of the person making the report.”