Married senior police officer broke lockdown rules to have sex with 21-year-old trainee
18 September 2024, 23:42
A senior police officer broke lockdown rules to sleep with a 21-year-old trainee, a misconduct panel has heard.
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Daniel Greenwood, 41, a chief superintendent in the West Yorkshire police, was leading Bradford’s Covid-19 response when he secretly attended Caitlin Howarth’s flat for sex while on duty in 2021.
The disgraced officer admitted gross misconduct and resigned from the police force before Wednesday’s hearing.
A married senior officer, he was suspended after the pair's affair was discovered.
The pair continued their illicit affair for a year after Mr Greenwood broke lockdown rules and exchanged explicit messages even after Ms Howarth had begun seeing a man later accused of being a drug kingpin.
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Their extramarital affair began after Mr Greenwood helped Howarth apply for a job on the force.
The relationship caused “gossip in the ranks”, the panel was told as it was revealed Greenwood attempted to hide evidence of the affair by performing a factory reset on his phone.
John Beggs KC, the barrister for the force, said: “An officer of Greenwood’s experience, service and rank knew — or ought reasonably to have known — that his sexual dalliances with this probationer were bound to bring discredit upon the police service.
“Greenwood’s motivations for helping Miss A with her application to join West Yorkshire police morphed, at least in part, into sexual self-interest.”
Greenwood claimed he believed Howarth was “mature enough for a sexual relationship”, the panel heard.
Beggs said: “Whatever her sexual desires for Greenwood, it ought reasonably to have been obvious to an officer of [his] length of service, age and rank that she was vulnerable in any relationship with him by reason of the stark disparity in age and rank.”
Hugh Davies KC, for Greenwood, has claimed his client is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and was thus unable to give evidence.
He said: “A promising police career has ended. Many perceived he had the potential to become a chief officer. That is all now gone.”
Earlier this year, it was claimed Howarth had attempted to have the case thrown out of court.
