West Yorkshire Police chief who had sex with student officer during Covid dismissed and barred after hearing

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Breaching Covid rules was the most damaging aspect of a top West Yorkshire Police officer’s “discreditable conduct” when he had a sexual relationship with a probationer 17 years younger than him, a misconduct panel has found.

Bradford’s policing commander Chief Superintendent Daniel Greenwood, 41, resigned earlier this week on the second day of a hearing into his relationship with the woman, now aged 24.

Today (Thursday), a West Yorkshire Police misconduct panel ruled that Mr Greenwood would have been sacked if he had not stepped down, when he admitted discreditable conduct which amounted gross misconduct over the affair. He has now been placed on the police barred list.

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Panel chairman Craig Hassall KC said the most damaging aspect of the former senior officer’s conduct, in terms of the reputation of the police, was the fact that he breached Covid regulations when he had sex with her, while he was the silver commander for West Yorkshire Police’s response to the pandemic.

Mr Hassall said there had been “widespread public revulsion” in the last few years when figures in authority had been seen to be breaching the rules while others were prevented from seeing dying relatives or watching funerals on remote screens.

The misconduct hearing will be held at the West Yorkshire Police headquarters in Wakefield this monthThe misconduct hearing will be held at the West Yorkshire Police headquarters in Wakefield this month
The misconduct hearing will be held at the West Yorkshire Police headquarters in Wakefield this month

He said: “We are satisfied that this particular aspect of this former officer’s discreditable conduct had the greatest capability of undermining public confidence in policing.”

Mr Hassall said this was worse than the publicity over the affair itself, which was “a consenting relationship between two consenting adults”.

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But he said the relationship was “conspicuously contrary to all of the available guidelines” and “there was significant harm caused by the misconduct, both internally and externally, to West Yorkshire Police”.

Mr Greenwood accepted he breached the “spirit” of the Covid rules, but not the “letter”, the panel heard.

Mr Hassall said: “The former officer would have been dismissed if he had not ceased to be a member of West Yorkshire Police when he tendered his resignation two days ago.”

He added that the senior officer’s conduct amounted to “an abuse of position for a sexual purpose”.

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The hearing heard how Mr Greenwood first encountered the woman, who was referred to as Miss A in the hearing, when her mother asked him to help her apply to join West Yorkshire Police – when she was 19.

The senior officer helped her through various stages of the process, even turning up at her medical and asking for various pieces of uniform to be exchanged because they were the wrong size.

The pair exchanged flirtatious messages and sexual videos before they eventually had sex in January 2021, when she had just turned 21 and had started work as a probationer officer.

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Married Greenwood was 37 at the time, the panel heard, and they had sex again in July 2021.

Mr Hassall said that, despite Mr Greenwood battling PTSD, it would have been clear to him that the relationship was highly inappropriate, pointing out that he even sat on a misconduct panel for a more junior officer which covered this exact area.

The chair said Mr Greenwood also attended a performance review in June 2021 which included an “integrity health check”, but he failed to disclose the relationship to the assistant chief constable conducting the meeting.

The panel heard how Miss A was arrested in November 2021 on suspicion of misconduct in a public office.

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This was in relation to an allegation that she had a relationship with, and passed information to, a man called Joseph Shaw, whose brother was part of a drugs supply conspiracy and who would later be jailed for drugs offences himself.

It was told how Mr Greenwood was aware of this relationship, but did not report it to the professional standards department.

The misconduct hearing heard how Mr Greenwood performed a factory reset of his phone on the same day that Miss A was arrested.

Earlier this week, West Yorkshire Police said in a statement that the criminal case against Miss A had been dropped.

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Mr Hassall outlined how Mr Greenwood worked for both the Ministry of Defence and the West Midlands force before joining West Yorkshire Police in 2006, where he made a “rapid rise” through the ranks.

The chair said that he was “demonstrably and good and hard-working officer”.

Commenting on the hearing, West Yorkshire Police’s Deputy Chief Constable Catherine Hankinson said: “Daniel Greenwood took full advantage of his senior position to pursue a wholly inappropriate relationship with a student officer.

“He behaved in a manner which brings discredit on the police service, goes against our values, and undermines public trust and confidence.

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“The public deserves police officers who hold the highest standards, and his actions do not represent the overwhelming majority of honest and hardworking police officers and staff in West Yorkshire.

“I hope people feel reassured that all allegations of discreditable conduct will be robustly investigated, and such behaviour has no place in our service.”

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