A South Yorkshire Police officer, Sex Offender Paul Hinchcliffe, has been sentenced to eight months in prison for forcibly removing a teenager’s blouse and photographing her breasts.
Paul Hinchcliffe, aged 46, sexually assaulted an 18-year-old in a tavern located in Wath upon Dearne in October 2020.
The victim informed Leeds Crown Court that the officer’s conduct had obliterated her trust in the police.
The married father of four resigned from the police force following his conviction by a jury in January.
Paul Hinchcliffe was off-duty and drinking with a group, including other officers, when he committed the offence in The Church House, a Wetherspoons pub, on 3 October.
‘All trust gone’
Paul Hinchcliffe first took a photo of the woman and showed it to friends and made a comment about performing a sex act, the court heard.
Paul Hinchcliffe then flicked beer foam at the teenager’s chest before pulling open her top, photographing her breasts in her bra, and making sex noises before sending the image to a colleague.
Later that night the woman, who lived with her parents, received WhatsApp messages from Paul Hinchcliffe, one of which included a photo of her accompanied by several sexually explicit emojis.
Paul Hinchcliffe was drinking with other police officers in The Church House pub at the time of the offence
In a victim impact statement, the 18-year-old said: “All my trust for the police just went.
“I used to feel safe when I saw police officers. I never think that now.”
Sentencing Paul Hinchcliffe, of Songthrush Way, Wath upon Dearne, Judge Robin Mairs told him his conduct “betrays your fellow officers who do a decent, committed job and makes women mistrustful of the police force”.
Katherine Pierpoint, defending, had urged the judge to suspend the prison sentence and pointed to a raft of references from colleagues about his 20-year career.
The barrister said her client’s drunkenness at the time of the offence was no excuse but might explain his “completely out-of-character” behaviour.
She said that, unlike other recent high-profile cases, Hinchcliffe had not used his position as a police officer to commit the offence.
‘Far beyond banter’
But Mr Mairs rejected her plea and noted Paul Hinchcliffe’s role at the time of the offence involved training student police officers, saying he had breached the standards he was tasked with instilling into recruits.
He said the behaviour of Paul Hinchcliffe and other officers in the pub “went far beyond jokes and banter” and had dented the victim’s trust in both men and the police.
South Yorkshire Police said an accelerated misconduct hearing on 9 February concluded Paul Hinchcliffe’s conviction amounted to gross misconduct and the officer would have been dismissed without notice if he had still been serving.
Paul Hinchcliffe, whose name will be on the sex offenders register for 10 years, has been placed on the police barred list, meaning he will never work in policing again, the force added.
Chief Constable Lauren Poultney said: “Whether our officers and staff are on duty or not, the public rightly expects us to portray the true values of policing at all times, and this former officer fell woefully below these expectations.”
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