On duty PC offered to pick up vulnerable teenage girl for sex

A police officer who made sexual comments to a vulnerable 17-year-old girl and tried to touch her while carrying out a welfare check has been jailed.

Merseyside Police constable Carl Edwards spent 90 minutes alone with the high-risk missing teenager in a bedroom, where he offered to pick her up after finishing work.

An investigation also found Edwards had propositioned two sex workers, including one who had approached him to report an assault.

The 37-year-old, of Sunflower Close, Woodchurch, Wirral, was jailed for 15 months at Chester Crown Court.

Edwards had been convicted of three counts of misconduct in a public office and two data protection offences following a trial in July.

Merseyside Police's Anti-Corruption Unit began an investigation into Edwards, directed by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), in April 2024.

That followed reports that an "officer called Carl" regularly attended the Sheil Road area of Kensington in Liverpool, known to be frequented by sex workers.

Amanda Rowe, from the IOPC, said: "The offending by PC Edwards was a deliberate and prolonged pattern of criminal behaviour which seemed to only escalate over time and culminated with his abhorrent actions when visiting a vulnerable girl who would have undoubtedly placed trust in him at the time."

Rowe praised the 17-year-old victim and the adult women as "brave" and said they helped uncover further offences which may have remained unreported.

The IOPC found that in December 2023, Edwards had been called out to the home of the 17-year-old girl after she returned following a period where she had been reported missing.

After he left, she told a support worker that Edwards had "made her feel uncomfortable" by attempting to touch her, offering her a drag on his vape and asking if she wanted him to pick her up after he finished work.

Edwards, who did not have his body worn camera activated while alone with the girl, also showed her pictures of the car he would pick her up in and made "comments about what he wanted to do sexually" with her.

The investigation found he had also had contact with at least two sex workers while on duty between 1 June 2022 and December 2023.

One of the women reported that Edwards had "flirted" with her while driving a marked police vehicle and "asked how much she charged".

She reported that he had turned up unannounced outside her property and would "often pass her on the street".

The other said she had been attacked by a man, but instead of investigating the offence, Edwards asked if she would engage in group sex with another woman for money.

Anti-corruption detectives also found Edwards had searched police systems for information about a Wirral-based organised crime group without any policing purpose.

Edwards was subjected to misconduct proceedings, but resigned from Merseyside Police before a hearing which determined he would have been sacked for gross misconduct.

After he was convicted, Det Ch Supt Sabi Kaur said: "In abusing his position of trust with victims of crimes in pursuit of his own gratification, Edwards behaviour was nothing short of abhorrent."

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