An ex-police inspector was accused of touching a junior female officer and sending indecent emails. He has now been found guilty.
Jonathan McLeod 38, who worked in Basildon, Essex Police, would have been terminated if it weren’t for his resignation on February 2020.
McLeod was accused by the Independent Office for Police Conduct of ‘abusing his position for sex purpose’. He had been accused of having been sexually inappropriate towards coworkers and touching one another three times.
A hearing was held to hear how the ex-police inspector sent indecent emails and comments about his sexuality to peers.
Following an independent investigation, his behaviour was found to be an abuse by police and was later deemed to have been serious corruption.
Jonathan McLeod (38), allegedly abused his sexual position after he was alleged by the IOPC to have been’sexually insensitive’ to colleagues, and to have sexually touched one of them on three occasions.
Between 2016 and 2018, Mr McLeod is accused of four counts each of sexual assault against a 16-year-old girl. He denied all charges.
The court was told that he had allegedly’repeatedly” kissed the woman at Basildon Police Station, and also in the parking lot of Tesco Mayflower.
He was due to be tried at Ipswich Crown Court in the summer of last year, but the Crown Prosecution Service dropped all charges against him. Mr McLeod was found not guilty on each of the four counts.
In December 2018, Essex Police referred the IOPC and it completed its investigation in December 2018.
The investigation involved Mr McLeod being interviewed by investigators. Investigators also analysed the recorded messages from WhatsApp and the email system. They obtained statements of several witnesses, which included the persons he had been in contact with.
An independent panel of police officers found McLeod to have violated the police professional standards for conduct in honesty and integrity.
McLeod was a Basildon Station station officer (pictured above), with Essex Police. He would have been fired if he had not resigned in February 2020.
He was not present at the hearing to defend himself.
Graham Beesley, Regional Director: Graham Beesley stated that ‘the abuse of police authorities for the purposes of sexual exploitation are a formof serious corruption.
It has had a terrible impact on victims as well as a significant impact on public confidence in the officers involved and the whole service.
“The officer involved was not the highest ranking, and one told investigators that her inability to report him’s behavior due to his seniority meant she wouldn’t be believed.
“This kind of culture, in which colleagues can’t go about their jobs without fear, is not appropriate for policing.”
Even though Mr McLeod was cleared by CPS for ‘kissing’ a woman multiple times and sexual touching, the ruling still stands.