Decorated Norfolk police officer among three barred for 'horrific' sex abuse towards colleagues

A former police officer who was nominated for a bravery award is among three officers barred from the force for sexually abusing colleagues on a night out - in behaviour the chief constable branded "horrific".

Sgt Marley Symonds took part in unwanted sexual behaviour and touching against a colleague on a bar crawl in April 2023, a gross misconduct hearing was told.

Symonds had been nominated for the 2020 Police Bravery Awards for his work detaining a pair of violent offenders wanted for threatening murder and blackmail.

In a second hearing, two other Norfolk Police constables who cannot be identified were found guilty of sexually assaulting a colleague during a separate work social event.

All three would have been sacked had they not already resigned, the panel concluded, and all three have been added to the College of Policing’s barred list, having been found to have breached standards of behaviour.

A hearing in November found that two officers, referred to as Y and Z, had sexually touched and been sexually inappropriate with a colleague on a night out in June 2021.

They were granted anonymity by the panel's independent chair following legal representations.

Chief Constable Paul Sanford said: “The conduct of these former officers was appalling; they have sexually abused colleagues on a night out. Such behaviour has no place in society or policing.

“We know the behaviour of those who work in policing is under constant scrutiny, both in our organisation as well as the wider community, and rightly so.

"I welcome this scrutiny and our proactive action to dismiss those officers who have no right to wear the uniform will continue. This action is necessary to ensure we maintain the standards that the public and I expect from police officers.

“The horrific behaviour of these officers comes at a cost to the majority who work in our county every day, targeting criminals, taking dangerous people off our streets and protecting the public.”

Criminal investigations were carried out in both cases, with all officers interviewed under caution.

Following enquiries, and the assessment of all available evidence, no criminal charges were brought against the officers.

In the case against Symonds, heard earlier this month, the panel was told that he was in a stag party which encountered another group of colleagues who went on a bar crawl together in Norwich.

He was accused of repeatedly touching the woman - whom he had not met before - despite her telling him not to, though the panel did not conclude it was of a sexual nature.

It found that he had put his hand under her skirt and into her underwear.

In the case involving the anonymised officers, a separate panel concluded that the two officers had made comments of a sexual nature towards a colleague and touched her inappropriately.

Additionally, Officer Y, a police constable, also put his hand up her dress and under her clothes, the panel concluded.

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