PC admits misconduct over 'worrying' messages to woman

A former police officer has admitted misconduct after sending messages to a married woman saying he wanted to choke and beat her with a baton during sex.

George Thompson, a former Avon and Somerset Police officer who was based in Bristol's Knowle West, exchanged 1,100 sexually explicit messages with the woman over 10 days in April 2024.

At a tribunal on Tuesday, he was cleared of gross misconduct but admitted the lesser offence of misconduct for the messages, which made him sound like a "heinous thug".

Mark Ley-Morgan, who represented the force, said: "The messages, at least, give the impression the officer has a worrying or misogynistic attitude towards women."

Thompson will face no further action as he resigned from the force the day before the hearing. At the tribunal in Portishead, the police panel heard that the woman - who the BBC is calling Ms A - had never met the officer.

Thompson sent her hundreds of sexually explicit texts, photos and videos on SnapChat until her husband found out and raised a complaint with the force, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Craig Holden, chairman of the misconduct panel, rejected claims that Ms A was a stranger to Thompson and that he had initiated unsolicited communication with her.

"He did know her, albeit in an online context. It was consensual," Holden added.

Det Sgt Andy Coggins, who represented Thompson, said the "mutual" communications were not coercive or abusive.

Ley-Morgan told the panel this was "not simply exchanging some fruity messages".

"As the officer conceded during interview, the messages made him look like a 'heinous thug'," he added.

He said that Thompson's references to "choking" and "beating with a police baton" during sex would "undoubtedly concern" members of the public about the attitudes of some male officers.

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