No matter how often we read about it in the news today, the form of Police corruption which probably has the greatest power to shock us is that of the Officer who seeks to sexually exploit victims of crime, malevolently targeting women who have suffered domestic violence.
There is something particularly sinister about this form of ‘toxic masculinity’, for the Officers who perpetrate this behaviour are exploiting the Police vantage point of intimate observation into the lives of people who have called for help in a moment of crisis, for their own sexual gratification. Such an Officer is turning the special powers of protection with which he has been trusted, into those of predation.
One person who avoided becoming the physical victim of such an Officer, but who was still emotionally scarred by the experience was my client ‘Julia’.
Between 2014-19, Julia was in a physically and emotionally abusive relationship with a male partner. She was obliged to contact Cambridgeshire Police for help on multiple occasions and ultimately secured a Non-Molestation Order against her (now ex) partner. Notwithstanding this Non-Molestation Order, Julia’s ex-partner continued to harass, threaten and intimidate her.
In April 2020, Julia received message on social media from a ‘Mike Latty’ asking her “Hey, how are you x”. Julia had no idea who ‘Mike Latty’ was and did not respond.
A few weeks later, a terrifying incident occurred when Julia became aware of her ex-partner attempting to force entry to her home. She made an emergency call to the Police and the following information about her was shared over the Police radio –
“It’s [address provided]. We’ve had a call from [name provided] at that location reporting that a male by the name of….bear with me, [name provided] is at the property trying to bang the door down….. Apparently there was a non-molestation order in place, but that has run out and now he’s trying to get into the house. […] we had a report saying that he is armed with a weapon, a blade. He is saying he has a knife although no one has seen the knife at this time. […]
Response Officers then attended Julia’s home, but by the time they arrived, her ex-partner had left the scene.
Shortly after this event, Julia updated her profile to state that her ex-partner had tried to break into her home. She did so in fear of what her ex-partner might do next (knowing that he had not been arrested) and so that there was record of this, should the worst of her fears materialise.
Several hours later, Julia received a second, unsolicited message from ‘Mike Latty’, which directly referred to her home address.
Julia was shocked, and confused as to who this individual was. Indeed, initially, she suspected that ‘Mike Latty’ was in fact her ex-partner, as he had previously tried to contact her using a fake profile.
When she cautiously replied to the message, asking how the sender knew her address, she received the following response – “Saw your status – heard the job. Don’t worry obviously won’t say x”.
From the content of this message, Julia began to (correctly) suspect that ‘Mike Latty’ was a Police Officer. ‘Mike’ messaged asking Julia if she was okay. She replied that she was scared and upset and disclosed to ‘Mike’’ that she had a Non-Molestation Order against her ex-partner which he had breached multiple times, and that she was now in the process of obtaining another Non-Molestation Order.
‘Mike Latty’ continued to engage with Julia through, asking her details about her life and signing off the majority of his messages with the kiss symbol ‘x’.
Furthermore, ‘Mike’ paid Julia various compliments, including the following-
- “It’s weird I’ve always found if you get an average looking couple, no problems. Yet a really attractive girl will either be with or be having problems with an ex that’s an arseholes xx”
- “Wow. So as well as being ridiculously attractive you also seem pretty cool and clearly smart”.
- “At least you know you’ll dead easy get another fella if you haven’t already”
All in all, some 38 messages were exchanged between ‘Mike Latty’ and Julia over the course of 2 days – with the majority of these messages coming from ‘Mike’ and Julia responding to less and less of them, as she became more disturbed and upset by this unsolicited contact from a stranger, and the ulterior motive behind his apparent care and concern dawned upon her. During these messages, ‘Mike’ had provided his personal mobile number and encouraged Julia to contact him.
Julia, already scared and vulnerable by reason of her ex-partner’s campaign against her, came to the horrible realisation that a Police Officer was apparently now trying to prey upon her as well. She knew that his sending these messages was very wrong and she turned to her mother for help.
Around a week later, two Police Officers attended at Julia’s home address to discuss the incident involving her ex-partner.
During this attendance, Julia told the Officers that she had received personal messages from a person she believed was a Police Officer who had heard the incident she had reported over the radio. She explained how she had come to realise that the Officer was preying upon her vulnerability at that time, and then showed the Officers the messages that she had received. From the Officers’ reaction, Julia formed an immediate impression that ‘Mike Latty’ was known to them. As it would transpire, he was, indeed, Police Constable Mike Latimer of Cambridgeshire Constabulary.
Julia had been put into a terrible position by reason of the Police Officer’s attempted exploitation of her. She felt a mix of emotions in making the report – guilt knowing that her actions could lead to the Officer being dismissed; insecurity that Cambridgeshire Police as an organisation might now ‘close ranks’ against her, and fail to properly protect her from her ex-partner, given that she was now a ‘complainant’ against one of their brother Officers; and, worst of all, fear that PC Latimer might seek retribution against her for her actions.
A misconduct investigation was launched by the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) although, shockingly, PC Latimer was allowed to withhold his personal phone and deleted information held on his work phone. During the course of the investigation, Julia learned that she was only one of at least three vulnerable women whom PC Latimer had sought to exploit. She felt very angry about what had been done to her and these other women.
Following the IOPC investigation, it was recommended that PC Latimer face misconduct proceedings, in response to which he promptly resigned from the Force.
A misconduct panel subsequently concluded that had PC Latimer not resigned, he would have been dismissed for gross misconduct. He was placed upon the Police “barred list”, meaning he can never again work for the Police service in any capacity, but, disappointingly in my opinion, escaped criminal prosecution.
Julia’s trust, confidence and faith in the Police significantly deteriorated by reason of the Officer’s exploitative actions. She no longer felt able to report anything to the Police, other than the gravest emergency situations.
After all, what had happened when she turned to the Police on the night when her violent ex-partner attempted to break into her home, possibly intending to do her terrible harm? The man had not been arrested, and instead her emergency call had, sickeningly, been treated as if it were a ‘lonely heart’ advert, or a profile on a dating website.
Already suffering from anxiety and depression, Julia’s lack of trust in authorities and other people generally became heightened to a marked degree, causing her to become ever more isolated and vulnerable.
The Officer’s selfish and sickening actions towards Julia were a gross abuse of the public trust placed in him, and the harm that he could potentially have caused went far beyond the emotional damage that would have been caused to Julia had his ‘grooming’ of her succeeded; in single-handedly turning the Police into a source of distress rather than comfort for Julia, ‘Mike Latty’ was callously stripping from her a level of protection whose loss might potentially cost her her life if, because of his sordid and shocking behaviour, she hesitated in the future to call for help when she needed it.
The seriousness of this form of Police ‘sexploitation’ simply cannot be underestimated.
On Julia’s behalf I pursued a claim against the Cambridgeshire Police for Harassment, Misfeasance in Public Office and Breach of the Data Protection Act.
I am pleased to confirm that I was able to negotiate a significant settlement for Julia, in the form of £14,500 damages, plus her legal costs, from Cambridgeshire Constabulary.
Actions such as this, brought by victims of Police harassment, exploitation, and grooming, are essential in order to counter-act the harm that has been caused to them, redressing the balance of power as the victim becomes the agent of accountability.
Civil claims for compensation are therefore a crucial prong of attack against this most insidious form of abuse of power, with the modern determination of Professional Standards Units to drive the Officers who commit this form of misconduct out of Policing being another, and increased media scrutiny and attention to these cases being a third.
However, it is essential that we keep the pressure up on all three of these fronts and do not allow any relapse into the old Policing culture of semi-toleration of this form of behaviour by Officers, as it is quite clear that despite all the energy being expended in fighting this problem in multiple ways, there remain all too many ‘enemies within’ amongst the ranks of our Police Forces.
My client’s name has been changed.
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