PC Darren Thorn dismissed over sexual relationship with vulnerable woman

A police officer has been dismissed after forming an inappropriate sexual relationship with a vulnerable woman he met on duty.

The two-day hearing found that six counts of gross misconduct were proven. They included illegally accessing police computer systems to obtain personal information about members of the public and passing it on to the woman. The offences were committed between June 2016 and June 2018.

Thorn admitted four criminal charges connected to the relationship during a hearing at Reading crown court on 29 November. He pleaded guilty to one charge of corruption, two charges of computer misuse and one charge of misconduct in a public office.

Thorn, who now lives in Devon, will be sentenced in February.

The officer was arrested and suspended from the force in 2018 when the allegations came to light. Wiltshire police carried out the investigation, supervised by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

Paul Mills, the deputy chief constable of Wiltshire police, said: “PC Darren Thorn significantly abused his position as a police officer by making contact with a vulnerable woman he met on duty and then going on to pursue a sexual relationship with her.

“Once in that relationship, he further betrayed the trust invested in him by the public, by illegally accessing police computer systems and obtaining personal information and data which he went on to pass to the woman.

“His actions were not only illegal, but were a consistent and sustained flagrant breach of the standards the police service and the public rightly expect of those who serve in the office of police constable.”

The police and crime commissioner for Wiltshire and Swindon, Philip Wilkinson, said this was the third misconduct hearing at Wiltshire police since he was elected into office that had involved a police officer’s inappropriate behaviour towards women.