Officer denies gross misconduct
APOLICE officer was given a restraining order after being accused of harassing his “vulnerable” ex-girlfriend, a misconduct hearing has been told.
Pc Gareth Hodges is accused of causing the single mother to live in fear after he repeatedly made unwanted calls, and sent texts and emails for two weeks, culminating in him “threatening” her and turning up uninvited at her home.
The hearing at Gwent Police’s headquarters in Cwmbran was told the pair had been in an “on-again, off-again” relationship for seven months before the woman – Ms X – called it off in May last year.
Despite being told she did not want further contact, Pc Hodges, who has served for 15 years, repeatedly attempted to call her, as well as sending WhatsApp messages, letters, and 17 emails over 12 days.
Case presenter Briony Ballard said that on May 9 the woman telephoned him by mistake while trying to block his number, and the next day she responded to an email from him explaining it was a mistake and did not want further contact.
Ms Ballard said: “His response on May 10 was, ‘You’ll never have any contact from me again, but don’t slag me off because if I find out you have I’ll take it all the way. I’m glad I walked away from you.”
She said another email from him hours later said: “I hope you live your life with full regret that I could have provided what you didn’t have in your life.”
Ms Ballard said: “We say the tone is nasty, and its content explicitly threatening to ‘take it all the way’.”
Following an uninvited visit to her home, the woman reported Pc Hodges to police on May 16 who arrested him under the Protection from Harassment Act.
The hearing was told Pc Hodges was given a nine-month restraining order related to the woman at a magistrates’ court despite the police officer being acquitted of harassment.
Ms Ballard said the woman was “vulnerable”
after experiencing domestic abuse at the hands of her ex-husband, and that Pc Hodges should have recognised his actions had the potential to cause her to become distressed.
Pc Hodges has admitted breaching standards of professional behaviour, relating to conduct amounting to harassment as well as receiving his nonconviction restraining order. But he denies the breaches amount to gross misconduct, arguing they only amount to the lesser finding of misconduct.
Nick Hawkins, defending, said Pc Hodges accepted harassing the woman and recognised it as “a serious matter”, but said it was “not the worst case of harassment that’s ever been brought”.
The hearing continues.