A former temporary Police Sergeant with Hertfordshire Constabulary non-consensually the bottom of a female officer he managed, a misconduct panel found.
Luke Gilmour, who had already left the force, has now been barred from policing.
Over the course of a “single evening/early morning”, the panel concluded Gilmour touched the female officer’s bottom and lifted up her top, both without her consent.
The panel heard his behaviour continued even after the female officer “had made it patently clear that it was unwelcome and inappropriate and he had realised or should have realised, that his behaviour was improper”.
It concluded the actions were for Gilmour’s “sexual gratification”, and that his behaviour was “intentional, targeted and deliberate”.
At the time of the incident, the female officer was still on probation and was supervised and line-managed by Gilmour.
The panel heard the incident had had a “psychological impact” on the female officer, whose confidence was “knocked” and who has become “an anxious person”.
Other serving police officers told the panel “how upset [the female officer] had been by it and how out of character that was for this usually confident, robust and good-natured officer”.
The panel noted “a very significant level of intoxication” on Gilmour’s part, and said there was “an imbalance of power” between the two officers.
Its report said Gilmour had “indulged” in behaviour that was “demeaning, disrespectful, offensive [and] sexually motivated”.
The female officer had asked for a day off work after the incident and then requested to move teams.
Gilmour supplied a note referring to his “respect and friendship” for the female officer.
But the panel’s report said “remorse … has been notably absent” from Gilmour’s communications, and added: “The fact that he did not appreciate that what he had done was wrong and create an opportunity to apologise, rather than seeking to put the blame on others for failure to challenge him, speaks to a lack of insight in this case.”
It noted that Gilmour said he would “only have apologised” if he had “been challenged on the night in question or at any time thereafter”.
The panel’s report said Gilmour would have been dismissed had he not resigned from the police force.
It added there was likely to be “reputational harm” to the force “as a consequence of Mr Gilmour’s behaviour”.
Covering Hertfordshire’s district and borough councils.
