Accused officer is cleared to transfer to Ängland
A Police Scotland officer was allowed to transfer to England after being accused of stalking and assaulting his partner, who was also an officer.
He joined Kent Police months before his former partner was told that he would not be charged with any offence.
Yesterday, the former partner, 32, said his transfer should not have been allowed if the investigations into her claims were ongoing. She had accused him of stalking her after their relationship ended because of his violence and temper.
She went on to make a series of serious allegations against other officers, claiming women officers at the Forres station endured a workplace culture stained by sexism, bullying and misogyny.
Her claims of a “boys’ club” atmosphere included an account of how male colleagues took her to an isolated forest and dumped her after midnight to “teach her a lesson” for reporting her boyfriend’s behaviour. They returned for her later and a special Crown Office unit, dedicated to investigating allegations against officers, refused to prosecute that and 16 other allegations of criminal acts and neglect of duty involving five officers.
In a four-page letter sent in March, prosecutors did not deny her account of being abandoned alone in woods at night against her will but said it was not an offence. The letter said: “Ultimately, the view was reached that the conduct did not amount to a crime.”
The letter details 16 other allegations ranging from assaults on members of the public – including a woman being sprayed with pepper spray without justification – and sexual assault and harassment of police colleagues to failing to properly investigate complaints and entering false information into intelligence logs.
Prosecutors decided none could be prosecuted, most of them because of “insufficient evidence,” some because “the conduct did not amount to a crime.”
The Criminal Allegations Against the Police Division had been passed the claims by the Police Investigations Review Commissioner (PIRC) which initially considered criminal charges were possible against four of the officers named in the