South Yorkshire Police officers convicted of crimes as all forces asked to carry out staff checks

Police officers nationwide are currently coming under increased scrutiny, with all police forces asked to check current staff recruited before stricter vetting measures were introduced in 2006.

It comes after serving Metropolitan Police officer, David Carrick, was revealed to be one of Britain's most prolific sex offenders after admitting attacking a dozen women over an 18-year period. It has also emerged that the force missed nine opportunities in 10 years to stop Carrick’s offending, who was repeatedly reported for his predatory and inappropriate behaviour towards women. Following his guilty pleas, Carrick has now been dismissed from the force.

Numerous South Yorkshire Police officers have also been convicted of criminal offences in recent months and years.

Just this month, Paul Hinchcliffe, aged 43, was found guilty of sexual assault following a trial at Leeds Crown Court, after he pulled down a young woman's top and photographed her breasts during a night out.

The South Yorkshire Police Constable, who sobbed as the verdict was read out, will now be sentenced at a later date following the preparation of a probation report.

On September 30, 2022, former South Yorkshire Police (SYP) officer, Liam Mills, then aged 34, was jailed for nine months after pursuing a sexual relationship with a domestic abuse victim he met in a professional capacity, and subsequently pleading guilty to two counts of misconduct in a public office and a data protection offence, all of which were committed while he was a serving officer.

Prosecuting barrister, Thomas Storey, told a sentencing hearing at Sheffield Crown Court that not only did Mills strike up a sexual relationship with a vulnerable woman he met in a professional capacity when he took a statement from her concerning the coercive and controlling behaviour she alleged her former partner subjected her to; but he also had sex with her at her home while on duty as a Police Constable on at least two occasions.

He was also found to have used police records to obtain the personal number of another woman he took a statement from in July 2021, but she shut down personal communication with him within hours, and told him it made her ‘uncomfortable,’ the court heard.

Mills, of Worsley Close, Barnsley, resigned from his post in January 2022, less than a month before a misconduct hearing. The hearing was held in his absence and it was found he would have been sacked if he had not resigned.

On August 25, 2022, former Special Constable with SYP, Faran Hanson, was found guilty of offences of using a public electronic communications network to send a message that is grossly offensive or indecent, following a trial at Leeds Magistrates’ Court, after he sent unsolicited pictures of his genitals to three women over Snapchat, two of whom were trainee officers he was training through his role with South Yorkshire Police.

Hanson, then aged 26, was sentenced to a two-year community order, 60 days of rehabilitation activity requirements, 200 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay costs. He was also served five-year restraining orders for each of his victims.

The court was told how prior to Hanson joining SYP, he had been disciplined by a former employer for what a Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson described as ‘similar behaviour’.

When asked whether Hanson was vetted before being given a position with the force, a SYP spokesperson said: “Hanson was subject to vetting, as any prospective employee is when joining SYP. As a Special Constable, Hanson will have had other employment running alongside his duties in SYP, as they are unpaid volunteers.”

The spokesperson added: “When the disclosure was made that there had been a disciplinary issue at Hanson’s other employment, this information was reviewed and assessed by senior officers, but at the time he began working for SYP he had not yet begun working for the employer where the disciplinary action took place (so in effect, the disciplinary matter hadn’t happened yet or been dealt with yet).”

Hanson was subsequently sacked by the force, following a misconduct hearing held in his absence.

In May 2022, the details of the conviction of corrupt South Yorkshire Police officer, Nabeel Khan, were publicised by the force. Khan, then aged 25, was jailed for two years during a hearing held at Grimsby Crown Court, after admitting to supplying cannabis over a 12-month period between March 2020 and February 2021.

Speaking after Khan was jailed, Deputy Chief Constable Tim Forber said: “Nabeel Khan was a corrupt officer who abused the trust and confidence placed in him as a police officer to deal drugs on our city’s streets and has no place in policing. I’m sorry that he ever found a place here. Former PC Nabeel Khan first came to the attention of our counter corruption unit in December 2020 when our systems showed searches carried out by him without a policing purpose. He was immediately suspended and later dismissed from the force and placed on the police barred list. Prior to his dismissal, our counter corruption investigators had launched a separate investigation into Khan following intelligence suggesting he may be dealing drugs.”

In 2017, disgraced former police officer Adrian Pogmore, then aged 54, was jailed for a year after admitting four charges of misconduct in public office after using a police helicopter to spy on, and record, women, including a naked sunbather and a couple he knew from South Yorkshire’s wife swapping scene having sex on their patio.

As he sent Pogmore to prison, Judge Peter Kelson KC told him: “You were a rogue policeman acting in the South Yorkshire Air support generally. So strong were your sexual urges you were willing to undertaken the substantial risks of being detected by your colleagues. You quite literally found yourself above the law. These were serious matters - you spied and recorded these naked people from 1,000 feet. You used a £2 million helicopter to advance your own sexual curiosities when it should have been detecting crime.”