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17
Sept
Police constable banned from force after having sex with woman despite being warned of her past relationships with officers
A former North Yorkshire Police officer has been banned from policing after entering into an “inappropriate and sexual relationship” with a woman despite being warned about interactions with her.
Callum Storr, who was based in York, was placed on the police barred list after a misconduct hearing.
Sarah Jackson, assistant chief constable at North Yorkshire Police, chaired the panel held at the force’s headquarters in Northallerton.
The panel heard that Storr began a sexual relationship with a woman referred to as Ms A between February 9, 2022, and February 11, 2022.
A decision notice from the hearing, which was published on September 10, said this occurred despite Storr being part of a briefing on November 24, 2021, where officers were warned about interactions with the woman due to her history of relationships with police officers.
The panel heard that while on duty on the same date, the officer attended the home address of Ms A following a report of domestic abuse.
Its report added:
The panel cannot be sure when it was that contact between Miss A and FPC Storr commenced after November 24, 2021, or who initiated the contact. It is clear that they had been communicating via Tinder and SnapChat before moving into text messaging.
FPC Storr’s Tinder profile included information that he worked for a uniformed service. Miss A sent him a screenshot of this profile and commented ‘guess what I do nee nooooorr’. She was clearly aware that he was a police officer.
The report said that the panel was satisfied that Storr knew who the woman was when they began communicating.
During the hearing, the officer said he did not “make connection between the person he met on his duties” and the woman he began communicating with. However, the panel said it did “not find this credible”.
Storr went on to contact Ms A via social media, messages and telephone before meeting her and having sex with her.
In its decision, the panel said:
The panel is therefore satisfied that FPC Storr entered into an inappropriate relationship with Miss A, which included contact via social media, messages and telephone calls, meeting Miss A in person and having sexual intercourse with her. He did so knowing that she was vulnerable.
The panel found his behaviour amounted to discreditable conduct as he behaved in a manner which would discredit the police service and undermine public confidence in it.
Meanwhile, the hearing also found that Storr had downloaded two inappropriate videos on his phone from a WhatsApp group called “Big Rose Stag Do”.
The videos depicted bestiality and were shared in October 2018. However, the panel said these were later saved to his phone while he was a serving officer.
Storr said he did not know the videos were on his phone and he had not interacted with them. But, the panel rejected this as they were the only two items of media from the WhatsApp chat that had been saved onto his phone.
“Extreme material” which was of a sexual nature, racist, Islamophobic, antisemitic and otherwise offensive was also found on his phone.
While this was not included in the second allegation, the panel noted that it “demonstrated a pattern of the possession of offensive material”.
Storr was found to have breached the standard of professional behaviour relating to discreditable conduct on the second allegation.
‘Still considers that he is the victim’
In her report, Ms Jackson said Storr had “behaved in a manner that is incompatible with the office of constable”.
She said:
There is significant national concern regarding abuse of power in the pursuit of personal relationships by police officers. The behaviour towards Miss A continued after FPC Storr ought to have known it was inappropriate and in the context of his knowledge of her vulnerability.
FPC Storr still considers that he is the victim in this and has taken no responsibility for his own actions and the harmful impact of what he has done, both to Miss A and to his colleagues within the police.
The panel found he would have been sacked without notice for gross misconduct had he not already resigned.
Storr was placed on the police barred list and has 10 days to appeal.
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