News

Salford police officer sacked for ‘depraved’ relationship with vulnerable woman

'He abused his position of trust'

Daisy Jackson - 30th January 2023

A police officer has been sacked after carrying out an ‘improper relationship’ with a crime victim.

Paul Banks, who worked as a PC in Salford, has been dismissed and barred after a Gross Misconduct Hearing on 24 and 25 January 2023.

In the hearing, a panel heard how Banks had advised a vulnerable woman to create an email account – which he then accessed to view images and videos, some of which were explicit, that she had uploaded.

He viewed the content more than 200 times and never reported them to his manager or the force’s Professional Standards Branch.

In the end, his own colleagues sensed that something was amiss and raised the alarm.

GMP has now slammed Banks’s ‘depraved behaviour’ and stressed that ‘there will never be a place in GMP for anybody who behaves like him’.

A statement also said that he ‘abused his position of trust’.

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Detective Chief Superintendent Michael Allen, head of GMP’s Professional Standards Branch, said: “Banks knew full well that his conduct was egregiously wrong.

“By cultivating an improper relationship with a vulnerable member of the public who he met in the course of his policing duties, the officer has been deservedly sacked from GMP.

“Not only has he disgraced himself, but his depraved behaviour dishonours policing and undermines the principled endeavours of his colleagues, who everyday do a valiant job catching criminals and protecting our communities.

“Indeed, it was Banks’ own colleagues who sensed something was amiss and triggered the first step in a process that rooted him out.

“The prudence of his colleagues is to be commended and I am grateful to the IOPC for conducting an investigation that left no stone unturned.

“No decent member of the police service wants to work with the likes of Banks and there will never be a place in GMP for anybody who behaves like him.

“He abused his position of trust and for that the Office of Constable has been rightly stripped from him.

“GMP is a better force without Banks and we will recruit a new officer into his post who will discharge their duties with honour and espouse the professional and compassionate values of the GMP workforce.”

Banks, who had been on restricted since the investigation began in December 2020, was dismissed without notice.

Featured image: Flickr