Senior detective 'stared at colleagues' breasts'

A "predatory" former senior police officer routinely stared at female colleagues' breasts and acted inappropriately with other women, a panel has said.

Det Supt Mark Spencer's conduct was ruled to be unacceptable over a decade until 2022.

Some women said the former Thames Valley Police (TVP) officer would stare at their chest as if it was a "compulsion" and that he had a "classic 'wandering eye'".

The panel described Mr Spencer's defence that he was "very socially awkward" and tended to avoid eye contact as "fanciful". It was ruled if he had not already left TVP, he would have been sacked.

It was heard Mr Spencer had a "reputation" amongst some in the force and was labelled a "perv" and a "letch".

He claimed some of the woman may have mistakenly thought he was staring at their breasts while he was trying to avoid eye contact.

"It begs the question: 'If the officer were avoiding eye contact with female colleagues, why did his gaze so often (if not always) fall on their breast areas?'" the panel said.

Mr Spencer, who worked across the Thames Valley for the force, was "highly regarded" and the panel said his "professionalism and abilities [were] not in issue".

But it said unacceptable behaviour continued even after he was told by his female supervisor that he was making some colleagues uncomfortable.

In another case, he was found to have used winking emojis in messages and been overfamiliar with a junior female colleague.

The panel said he held senior ranks and that his conduct "involved an abuse of his authority and the trust placed in him by both TVP generally and his colleagues".

Sitting at TVP HQ in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, it found it was "reasonable, proportionate and appropriate" to find that Mr Spencer would have been sacked if he still worked for TVP.

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