Officer dismissed from force

A police officer pressurised a victim of an alleged sexual assault into saying the incident never took place, Sussex Police has said after a misconduct hearing.

PC Steven Morris number CM070 - who was based with the investigations team at Crawley, has been dismissed from the force after being found guilty of gross misconduct, a police spokesman said. Morris, aged 48, who served as a police officer for 18 years, appeared at a public gross misconduct hearing at Lewes following allegations he failed in his duties and responsibilities after an incident in Horsham.

Sussex Police has released the officer’s identity number as CM070 after it said there were three officers of the same name in the force, another of whom is also based at Crawley.

Police said the panel heard how Morris ‘improperly pressurised’ a potential victim of a sexual assault into signing his pocket note book stating that no assault had taken place.

At the hearing, on March 4, a panel - which was independently chaired agreed that the allegations did amount to gross misconduct and Morris was dismissed without notice. The force said his behaviour was ‘a violation of trust’.