John Hamilton, 55, requested the woman if she wished to go for a drive close to a spot the place her abuser took her.
John Hamilton was working with the kid and grownup safety safeguarding division (Picture: Getty)
A former police officer pestered a 14-year-old survivor of rape with inappropriate, drunken messages. Ex-Detective Constable John Hamilton, 55, despatched the susceptible woman late-night voice messages and supplied to take her on a drive close to the place her abuser had taken her.
Hamilton was sentenced to 18 months in jail at Teesside Crown Courtroom on Friday (April 10) after being discovered responsible of misconduct in a public workplace. Recorder of Middlesbrough, Decide Francis Laird KC, stated Hamilton had breached the belief positioned in him by a “extremely susceptible” teenager who he stated had turned to the police for assist.
Hamilton served 25 years in policing, beginning with the Metropolitan Police earlier than transferring to Northumbria Police in 2019.
When he was assigned to the woman’s case in September 2021, he was “at a very low ebb” and was turning to extreme ingesting after separating from his accomplice, the courtroom heard.
He was working with the kid and grownup safety safeguarding division when he was requested to analyze a historic allegation of rape.
The courtroom heard Hamilton “developed an unhealthy and fully inappropriate curiosity” within the sufferer and began to ship her “more and more inappropriate messages with growing frequency”. The choose stated the messages have been “over-friendly however not overtly sexual”.
After a weekend when the woman had left her dwelling, he made an unannounced go to to her college. The woman’s head of 12 months stated Hamilton made her really feel “unwelcome to stay within the room” with them, regardless of the woman indicating she wished her to remain.
That afternoon, he messaged the woman, saying it had been good to speak to her, and requested if she wish to go for a drive to a spot close to the place her abuser had taken her.
Hamilton despatched the woman “more and more inappropriate” messages by way of the evening and into the early hours of the morning regardless of her making it clear she wished to go to mattress. He additionally despatched two voice notes revealing he was closely intoxicated, the courtroom heard.
The subsequent day, Hamilton tried to “undo the harm” by sending her a sequence of light-hearted messages, however she reported what had occurred in school. The pinnacle of 12 months stated the woman was “visibly upset and saying she didn’t wish to go on this drive”.
In mitigation, the courtroom heard Hamilton’s messages have been “pestering” however not “sexual, threatening or obscene”.
The Unbiased Workplace for Police Conduct (IOPC) launched a felony investigation into Hamilton in November 2021 after a referral from Northumbria Police.
He was suspended by the pressure and later that month arrested by the IOPC. The IOPC stated it concluded its investigation in February 2023 and referred a file of proof to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Hamilton was charged in August 2024 and went on trial in February this 12 months. He’ll face a gross misconduct listening to after his conviction.
IOPC Director Emily Barry stated: “DC Hamilton was an skilled police officer with over 24 years of service so he knew completely properly the requirements {of professional} behaviour anticipated of him, whether or not on or off responsibility.
“The seriousness of his actions have been exacerbated by the very fact he labored in a safeguarding crew and was meant to be defending a 14-year-old woman who was in an especially susceptible place as a sufferer of crime.”
She added that law enforcement officials are made absolutely conscious from the outset of their duties with how they cope with members of the general public they meet by way of their skilled duties.
Ms Barry stated: “Hamilton fully abused his place of belief and has rightfully been held accountable for his actions.”
Det Supt Donna Rose, from Northumbria Police’s Skilled Requirements Division, stated: “Firstly, we wish to recognise the bravery of the sufferer on this case in coming ahead. When issues have been raised in relation to this particular person, he was suspended from responsibility.”
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She added: “His actions have been fully unacceptable and are under no circumstances consultant of the overwhelming majority of officers, workers and volunteers at Northumbria Police who come to work to make a optimistic distinction to folks’s lives.
“As a pressure, now we have made it very clear that when somebody falls under the requirements anticipated and which they made a dedication to uphold, we are going to take applicable motion. We are able to verify, following his conviction, misconduct proceedings are additionally being progressed.”
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