A former PCSO ‘groomed’ three vulnerable women to satisfy his own sexual gratification after befriending them through his work.

Gary Carter played an audio recording to a colleague of one of the women carrying out a sex act with herself after he formed an inappropriate relationship with her.

The 49-year-old targeted the three women who were all significantly older than him while he was working for Northumbria Police.

Teesside Crown Court heard how he would visit them while on and off duty and had become the butt of jokes amongst colleagues who were initially unaware of the serious nature of his behaviour.

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Paul Reid, prosecuting, said the defendant preyed on the women with one becoming obsessed with him and calling the force to speak to him even after he quit his role in 2014.

He told the court that the three women, who cannot be named for legal reasons, all had significant health problems or alcohol addictions.

Mr Reid said there was no suggestion that any of the sexual contact with any of the women was not consensual.

“The defendant came into contact with the during his time as a PCSO with Northumbria Police,” he said. “He became aware of them through his work and became aware of their vulnerabilities.

“He developed and encouraged an inappropriate relationship with all of them.”

The court heard how colleagues described Carter as ‘hapless’ and he was regular butt of their jokes, including ones about his relationship with the older women.

Mr Reid added: “It was common knowledge that he had visited one of them on a number of occasions and she had developed an obsession with him.”

He told the court that another complainant sent him a recording of her carrying out a sex act. 

Carter, of Allendale Road, Billingham, admitted three charges of acting in an inappropriate and unprofessional manner towards the three women whilst he was on duty in Gateshead between 2007 and 2014.

Christopher Knox, mitigating, said his client was told in 2015 that his behaviour was not criminal before being charged with the offence several years later and had been deeply affected by the case.

He said family and friends of Carter painted an entirely different character of him in a number of testimonials.

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Judge Paul Watson KC told the defendant that only an immediate custodial sentence was appropriate to help maintain the public’s confidence in the police after he abused his position.

"The women were all vulnerable in their own way and for your own needs and in one case for your own sexual gratification - you groomed them," he said.

“You were acting as a public officer when you groomed these three women. They were vulnerable and you exploited that.

"There exists a critical need for PCSO's, not just police officers, to create trust. The public must see that when they are failed in the trust by those charged with keeping law and order, then those who betrayed that trust must be punished.”

Carter was jailed for eight months.