Police sergeant called to hotel over concern PC meeting domestic violence victim
A police sergeant told how he was called to a hotel over concerns that an off-duty Staffordshire police officer was meeting a victim of domestic violence he had helped earlier that day.
Pc Adam Rushton, aged 37, had assisted in temporarily rehousing the young mother there whilst on uniformed duty with another colleague. But he returned in his casual clothes that evening and went straight up to her room, a jury heard.
He was noticed by the manager who was so alarmed he contacted the police.
Acting sergeant Roger Poole told Birmingham Crown Court that when he knocked on the first-floor bedroom door, a woman answered.
He asked to speak to Pc Rushton who came to the door clothed but without his shoes, and sergeant and he went downstairs to talk.
"He explained he had been playing football and had had a phone call from her saying she had run out of nappies for the baby and had no money to get any and that was why he was visiting, to bring her the nappies. He said his partner was aware of it and that they also had a young child."
Sgt Poole said he advised the officer that he was leaving himself open to allegations of misconduct and of the effect that would have on the public's perception of Staffordshire Police.
He advised Pc Rushton to leave the North Stafford Hotel in Stoke-on-Trent but said he did not insist on it because the constable, who subsequently stayed, was off-duty.
He told the court: "He said he was going to leave and I believed he would be leaving very soon. I should have waited, in hindsight. He gave a very plausible explanation of why he was there. I had no reason to disbelieve him."
Sgt Poole said he emailed his supervising officer and the Professional Standards Unit when he returned to Longton Police Station because of 'the circumstances of an off-duty officer revisiting somewhere he'd been on duty that day.'
The court heard that Rushton was later spoken to by his senior officers about his behaviour towards the woman.
The serving officer, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, is accused of 10 counts of misconduct in a public office and two counts of obtaining personal data. He denies the charges. The incidents are alleged to have taken place between 2006 and 2012. He was arrested in April 2014 and questioned about the matters.
The trial continues.
