Humberside Police inspector guilty of gross misconduct for groping teenage girls

A police inspector committed gross misconduct by groping two teenagers 20 years ago, a panel has found.

Two women, now in their 30s, told a four-day misconduct hearing that Inspector Craig Mattinson, of Humberside Police, touched them in a sexual way when they were 14 and 17, when they shared a flat in Hull.

The younger woman, Miss A, told a panel in Goole, East Yorkshire, that the officer, now 47, touched her bottom and grasped her breast over her clothes when he visited the flat in about 2004.

The other complainant, Miss B, said he touched her inappropriately and kissed her when he drove her to his house in Hull, where they had a pizza delivered and drank wine.

Mr Mattinson, who joined Humberside Police in 1997, denied all the allegations against him, telling the hearing: "It never happened."

On Thursday, the panel of two civilians and a police superintendent found the allegations proven.

Panel chairwoman Eileen Herlihy told the hearing that the panel "preferred the evidence of Miss A and Miss B and found their accounts to be credible".

Ms Herlihy said the relationship between the officer and the two teenagers had been "unprofessional, sexual and inappropriate".

She said his actions amounted to discreditable conduct.

The panel will decide the officer's fate later on Thursday.