Policeman 'abused role for sexual purposes'

A police officer sucked a female colleague's finger as part of an unwanted pattern of sexual behaviour towards women with whom he worked, a misconduct panel heard.

They also heard that former PC Robin White, who retired from West Midlands Police in July ahead of the proceedings, asked another colleague in a police station in Walsall borough: "When are we going to get our hot naked bodies together?"

White's actions were deemed by the panel to be "deliberate, intentional and targeted", and aimed at two colleagues who were "both much younger in age and significantly less experienced in role".

The panel ruled that he abused his position for sexual purposes and the behaviour amounted to gross misconduct. The hearing concluded that White would have been dismissed without notice if he had still been a serving officer.

Chaired by the former chief constable of Warwickshire Police Debra Tedds, the panel heard that White kissed both of the women on the head on numerous occasions.

Furthermore, White was said to have discussed buying one of the women a handbag with a payout he was expecting following an accident.

He was alleged to have said words to the effect of "if I buy you one, what can I expect in return?" and added that he could go to a local red-light area for "a fiver".

This was the only allegation of the four where no-one else was present, but the panel determined it was more likely than not that the allegation was true.

Ruling White's behaviour to amount to gross misconduct, the panel found there to be no mitigating factors, but did note his long service and the commendations he received early in his career.

In their report, they said they "had no doubt" that White's behaviour was sexually motivated and was a subtle form of harassment by him.

They added that he had abused his position of seniority for sexual purposes.

It was also noted that there was evidence of "low-level psychological harm" to the two women, who both commented as to how they found the former officer's conduct towards them "creepy".

While White was not senior in rank to his two colleagues, he was "significantly senior to them in age and experience and they looked to him for guidance and instruction", the panel found.

They also outlined "ongoing public concern" as to the attitude towards the treatment of women and girls by police officers and concluded that White's actions exacerbated such concern.

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