PC sacked for off-duty contact with abuse victim

A police officer who made off-duty and late night calls to a woman who was a victim of domestic abuse and then lied about the contact has been sacked from the force.

The West Midlands officer, named by the force only as PC Uddin, was found to have committed gross misconduct at a disciplinary hearing.

The officer, based at Stechford police station in Birmingham, contacted the woman repeatedly from his work and personal phones after he carried out a welfare check in May.

In his report, Chief Constable Craig Guildford said the officer's actions "were devoid of integrity".

The hearing heard PC Uddin carried out the check in May after the woman reported that she had been a victim of domestic abuse.

He then made several calls or attempts at calls to the woman the day after, including some late at night.

The move to continuing contact through his personal phone was described as "unprofessional" in the report which added it "gave the impression that you were developing or intending to develop a personal relationship with a vulnerable female".

The officer did not tell his supervisor or update the police systems about the off-duty contact, they added.

A second allegation against the officer was that he did not admit the contact during a West Midlands Police interview in January 2024, including denying any evidence of the contact would be found on his phone.

He later admitted it in a follow up interview in October.

The report said PC Uddin claimed his contact was made with "good intentions".

It was decided at the hearing that the officer had breached professional behaviour standards to the level of gross misconduct.

Chief Con Guildford wrote: "This officer's actions were devoid of integrity in so far as he knew what he was doing in consciously deciding to make so many contacts with a vulnerable victim of crime both on and off-duty on both his works and then later his own mobile phone.

"Consequently, I find the officer to be individually culpable and his culpability is particularly high as is the level of seriousness in this case."

The officer was told he had the right to appeal against his dismissal.

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