Gloucestershire Police inspector messaged sex worker and 'posed with firearm' on Tinder

A former Gloucestershire Police inspector has been barred from any further policing career after messaging a sex worker and creating a Tinder profile using a picture in uniform and holding a firearm.

Inspector James Wyatt was found to have committed gross misconduct by contacting the woman via a website and discussing prices for her services.

The former officer was added to the police barred list following an accelerated hearing held by Gloucestershire Police.

Mr Wyatt was also facing other allegations that he had breached data protection rules by sharing personal information relating to a woman who was applying to join the police by attending her workplace and disclosing her application with a colleague.

Giles Bedloe, presenting the case for the Appropriate Authority, suggested Mr Wyatt’s attendance at the recruit’s place of work amounted to “an element of stalking”.

“It was deeply inappropriate and caused significant impact,” he said.

The officer was also accused of failing to notify the force of the existence of two business interests and that he had set up a Tinder profile with a picture of himself in uniform holding a long-barrelled firearm.

Mr Wyatt was not present for the hearing at Gloucestershire Police HQ but did not dispute the facts of the four allegations.

Assistant chief constable Arman Mathieson, who was chairing the misconduct hearing, said he found the allegations amounted to breaches of confidentiality, order and instructions, honesty and integrity and discreditable conduct.

He said he found them proven and that they amounted to gross misconduct.

Mr Mathieson said it was “deeply inappropriate” for Mr Wyatt to have gone to the applicant’s workplace after previously interviewing her as a potential recruit.

“She was left embarrassed by the attendance of a serving police officer at her place of work,” he said.

He said police regulations at the time did not prevent a police officer from contacting sex workers, but officers should be aware of the “vulnerabilities” of those engaged in that trade due to the risk of being trafficked or victims of organised crime.

“Inspector Wyatt breached the standards of professional behaviour when communicating with a sex worker which he should or ought to have known was vulnerable,” Mr Mathieson said.

“When he accessed the details of the sex worker he knew or should have known that such websites are used by organised crime groups to exploit women.

“It is one where society would expect police officers to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. There is no evidence he procured the services of the sex worker.”

Mr Mathieson added: “In conclusion taking into account all the circumstances together, there is a considerable amount of evidence of a lack of judgment and poor decision making that the public would not expect from a serving police officer.

“He is highly culpable, and he has no one else to blame. His actions were deliberate. He is unaware of the harm he has caused to himself, his colleagues, the public and the wider police service.

“My decision is that breaches of standards of behaviour are so serious that they amount to gross misconduct.

“It is my decision that had Inspector Wyatt remained a serving officer he would have been dismissed for gross misconduct. He is dismissed without notice and is placed on the barred list.”