A trainee police officer has categorically denied sexually assaulting a colleague or making a series of lewd comments during training sessions.

The Cleveland Police officer, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was under criminal investigation for a year before he was told he was facing no further action.

Giving evidence at gross misconduct disciplinary hearing, he told the independent panel that the wait to learn his fate had been ‘more or less unbearable’.

Despite being cleared of any criminal wrongdoing he is still facing the sack if he is deemed to have breached professional standards during a six-week period in September and October 2020.

Guy Ladenberg, representing the officer, took his client through each individual allegation made against him by three fellow trainees.

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The independent panel heard how the accused was unaware of any problems with any of his fellow trainees until he was ‘hoicked’ out of a training session.

Mr Ladenberg asked him if he had made any sexually inappropriate comments to any of the three complainants during the six-weeks he was training alongside them.

He replied: “Absolutely not.”

When quizzed about making a ‘sticky fingers’ comment, the trainee officer denied there was any sexual intent and he was poking fun at the complainant accidently picking up other people’s gear in the locker room.

Mr Ladenberg asked him if he had rubbed himself on one of the trainees during an exercise, he again replied: “Absolutely not.”

And he told the panel that he had a sexual assault investigation hanging over him for around 12-months before he was told he would face no further action in the criminal investigation.

The force says the officer’s alleged conduct breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour relating to ‘Authority, Respect and Courtesy’, ‘Equality and Diversity’ and ‘Discreditable Conduct’ and amounts to Gross Misconduct.

The panel heard how the officer was accused of making a comment suggesting that a second trainee officer was going to use a ‘vibrator’ when she got home and also made a number of sexualised comments about her having a ‘sexy nurse outfit’ at home.

The trainee officer denied the allegations.

Under cross examination from Stephen Morley, representing Cleveland Police, the accused said the complainants had come together to make the allegations about him out of ‘malicious intent’.

He said there had been a ‘campaign of falsehood’ created to force him out of the training group.

Mr Morley read out a series of messages shared between one of the complainants and the accused before saying: “you were fishing and pushing your luck” to find out whether she was attracted to you.

He replied: “No, I thought we were having a bit of a joke, nothing else.”

The disciplinary hearing continues.

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