Policewoman’s on-duty fling with married officer uncovered by GPS in their cars
Zoe Phillips, 32, performed oral sex on Andrew Perry, 35, sent him sexy selfies and met up at her home while they were supposed to be on patrol.
A policewoman’s on-duty fling with a married officer was uncovered when bosses used the GPS in their squad cars to track them back to her home address, a tribunal heard.
Zoe Phillips, 32, performed oral sex on Andrew Perry, 35, sent him sexy selfies and met up at her home while they were supposed to be on patrol.
The former PCs, who both resigned when the affair came to light, got together for a string of secret trysts but were rumbled following an anonymous tip-off.
An investigation was launched and senior officers tracked the GPS history of officers’ vehicles to prove they had been meeting up while on duty, a misconduct hearing was told.
Traffic specialist Perry and schools liaison officer Phillips worked for Gwent Police.
Dad-of-three Perry, whose wife is still a police officer with the force, confessed to ‘heavy petting’ between the pair and receiving oral sex.
The hearing was told the pair would separately drive their cars to remote areas so they could meet up during their shifts.
Both have now been barred from the force after the panel ruled their actions amounted to gross misconduct.
The disciplinary panel said Perry and Phillips – named only as Mr A and Ms B in the hearing – would have been sacked had they not quit.
Panel chair, Christopher McKay slammed the pair for their ‘deplorable’ behaviour and said that their actions had ‘undermined public confidence in the police force’.
He added: ‘All the contact Mr A had with Ms B was during working hours when he was on duty and this was to the detriment of Gwent Police and the public.
‘The fact he was with Ms B in remote locations is likely to have prohibited his ability to respond to calls.
‘Ms B sought to minimise her own responsibility for her actions and sought to blame Mr A. She was not a victim but a willing participant in what happened between her and Mr A.’
Presenting officer Jonathan Walter had previously told the hearing: ‘Anonymous phone calls were made to Gwent Police alleging that Ms B and Mr A were meeting in remote locations whilst on duty and at Ms B’s home address for the purpose of a sexual relationship.
‘The investigating officer obtained GPS Tetra Mapping data to show the likely whereabouts of Ms B and Mr A in relation to each other whilst they were on duty.’
The hearing was told that the data revealed that the officers were together on a ‘large number of occasions when there was no policing reason for doing so’.
In an interview, Phillips admitted that there would be ‘kissing and cuddling’ when they were both on duty.
Mr Walters said: ‘To Mr A’s eternal credit he did not flinch from telling the investigating officers exactly what happened.
‘This led him to admitting that on one occasion Ms B had performed oral sex on him in a police vehicle when they were both on duty and there had been sexual contact in the form of heavy petting.’
The pair also met up at Phillips’s house for sex while Perry was on duty.
Mr Walters added: ‘There is no doubt that Ms B and Mr A were seeing each other during working hours in early 2018 and by no later than March, this had developed into an emotional relationship.
‘Ultimately, the relationship between Ms B and Mr A developed into a sexual relationship.’
Perry admitted that two allegations against him amounted to gross misconduct.
Phillips admitted meeting with Perry while he was on duty and to sending a sexualised photograph to him while on duty.
She denied sexual contact with Perry while on duty and argued that her action amounted only to misconduct rather than gross misconduct.
However they were found proven and to have amounted to gross misconduct.
An allegation that she had taken an explicit picture while on duty was also found proven, but only to amount to misconduct.
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