Dorset Police has one of the worst rape conviction rates in the country. Over the past 10 years, the number of sex offenses reported to them has doubled but the number of charges they bring has halved. Sex offenses are the most commonly reported form of criminal offense in Dorset but the force still has no specialist rape unit.

In 2020 they only pressed charges in 28 of the 782 rape reports they received and according to data obtained via a Freedom of Information request from Justice for Gaia, of 2058 sexual offences recorded by the Dorset Police 2019-2020, only 46 resulted in criminal charges.

We keep a log of relevant stories as they appear in the press. You can scroll through here and click the link to access the full story.

In Brief

• In May 2023, one Dorset Police officer testified almost being driven to suicide by the bullying & toxic culture within the force. Five officers stand accused of breaching professional standards and circulating sexist, pornographic, misogynistic, homophobic and racist messages. They also pinned a poster of skinheads displaying Swastikas and giving the Nazi salute on the wall of their police station.
• In January 2023, a Dorset Police sergeant – who journalists were banned from naming – was found guilty of gross misconduct for repeat offenses of sexual harassment against female student officers.
• In June 2022, a Dorset policeman was found guilty of gross misconduct after “abusing his position of trust” to form “relationship” with domestic abuse victim he met through his duty as a police officer. 
• In April 2022, Dorset Police were found to have no case to answer having been warned about a dangerous predator just hours before he raped a woman in a public street in Poole and no officers attended despite a concern for welfare report having been submitted.
• In April 2022, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism revealed that of 36 Dorset Police officers reported for domestic abuse between January 2018 and September 2021, only three were convicted and of those three only two just 2 were even disciplined
• In January 2022, another Dorset police officer was found guilty of gross misconduct for sexually harassing female colleagues and “would have been dismissed by the force had he not already resigned.”
• In November 2021, a former civil servant working for the Dorset Police & Crime Commissioner was jailed for grooming underage girls online. 
• In November 2021, a Dorset superintendent was found guilty of gross misconduct after claiming thousands of pounds of false expenses. Not a gender-based violence issue but still it doesn’t inspire much confidence, does it?
• In October 2021 a Dorset police officer was set to face gross misconduct charges related to the Sarah Everard investigation. 
• In October 2020 a Dorset police officer strangled a local nurse, Claire Parry, to death  and was convicted for manslaughter. 
• In October 2020 a Dorset police inspector was found guilty of gross misconduct for abusing his position to engage in sexual activity with members of the public and Dorset Police.
• In February 2020 Katrina O’Hara was beaten to death by her ex after Dorset police took her phone and, according to her family, swept her fears for her life “under the carpet.”
• And a police detective was sacked for sexually assaulting a female colleague. 
• In January 2020 two more Dorset police officers were found guilty of gross misconduct after they falsified reports to cover up their failure to properly safeguard a victim of domestic abuse. 
• In February 2019 another Dorset police officer groomed a domestic abuse victim and coerced her into a sexual relationship. 
• In June 2019 Sharon Perett was killed by her abusive partner shortly after Dorset Police stopped checking in with her ‘because her phone was off’.
• 2015-2019 there were 13 arrests of Dorset Police staff for crimes including assault and rape but most of these cases were dropped with no disciplinary action.
• In July 2015, a Dorset Police officer was found guilty of harassment for sending violent and threatening messages to a woman over a period of several months.
• December 2014 – HMIC raised concerns that “potentially vulnerable victims were either waiting an unacceptable time for services or missed altogether” by Dorset Police because of concern that the force’s definition of vulnerability was too narrow.

Click here to access an interactive map of sexual and violent crime in the Dorset area. These are the most frequently reported crimes in many Dorset towns. 

In Detail

Content Note: contains descriptions of assault and sexual violence *

Dorset policeman guilty of gross misconduct after relationship with abuse victim

A Dorset policeman has been found guilty of gross misconduct after “abusing his position of trust” to form “relationship” with domestic abuse victim he met through his duty as a police officer. He also admitted sending confidential information to people outside of the force

Dorset Police 999 call over rapist’s behaviour before attack

Dorset Police were found to have no case to answer having been warned about a dangerous predator just hours before he raped a woman in a public street in Poole. No officers attended despite a concern for welfare report having been submitted. A description of the man and woman had been obtained and an incident log created but it was closed a short time later by a supervisor.

Dozens of Dorset Police employees working despite domestic abuse allegations

Dozens of employees are still working at Dorset Police despite being accused of domestic abuse, figures reveal.

The statistics, obtained in an investigation by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and ITV, reveal more than 1,300 police officers and staff across the UK were reported for domestic abuse between January 2018 and September last year. This included 30 police officers or staff members from Dorset Police. Two officers or staff members received some form of disciplinary action as a result of the allegations against them.

Dorset Police 999 call over rapist’s behaviour before attack

In April 2022, Dorset Police were found to have no case to answer having been warned about a dangerous predator just hours before he raped a woman in a public street in Poole and no officers attended despite a concern for welfare report having been submitted.

A description of the man and woman was obtained and an incident log was created but closed a short time later by a supervisor. The 999 call was made by a witnesses who had been approached by Kyoybasha a short time earlier on the morning of September 5 last year.

She dismissed his advances before he switched his attention to the victim, who was aged in her 30s. After he “pestered, badgered and followed” the lone female for an hour and 45 minutes, Kyoybasha raped her outside a building near Pottery Junction in Poole.

Dorset Police officer touched female colleagues inappropriately

In January 2022, another Dorset police officer was found guilty of gross misconduct for sexually harassing female colleagues and “would have been dismissed by the force had he not already resigned.” An internal investigation established that between 2019 and 2021 he had made a large number of harassing comments of a sexual nature to female colleagues around the force directly in person and via messages, and sexually assaulted multiple women.

Dorset Police civil servant jailed for grooming underage girls online

A FORMER civil servant who worked for the Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner has been jailed for repeatedly engaging in sexual communications with two underage ‘girls’.

Jason Rory Samuel Mumford, aged 47, thought he was messaging a 12-year-old girl named ‘Toby’ and a 13-year-old girl named ‘Paris’ – sending them videos of himself performing sexual acts and also inviting them to perform lewd acts on themselves.

Dorset Police superintendent found guilty of gross misconduct after claiming thousands of pounds of false expenses

In November 2021, a Dorset superintendent was found guilty of gross misconduct after claiming thousands of pounds of false expenses. Not a gender-based violence issue but still it doesn’t inspire much confidence, does it?

Dorset Police office to face gross misconduct charge related to Sarah Everard investigation

October 2021 – The officer posted details of an interview given by Couzens before he pled guilty to the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard, which the police watchdog says may “have brought discredit on the police service and potentially interfered with the course of justice.”

Dorset Police officer jailed after strangling a woman to death 

October 2020 – The trial heard the injuries would have resulted from significant force to the neck for a minimum 10 to 30 seconds and possibly longer. As a “trained and experienced” road traffic police officer, Brehmer would have known Parry was seriously injured yet did nothing to help her, the judge said. He could not have thought, as he said in his police interview, she was “simply taking a breath”, the judge added. “You must have known that her body had gone limp after your assault on her. Before you walked to the car park entrance you must have seen how she was hanging half out of the car.”

Parry had “fought hard” against Brehmer, “if only for a short while”. Brehmer had stabbed himself three times with a penknife. The judge said he had sought at the scene to blame Parry for stabbing him, lying to police and others at the time. “These lies were in my view particularly serious,” the judge added, given Brehmer’s job. 

Dorset Police inspector Billy Bulloch guilty of gross misconduct

May 2020 – AN INSPECTOR carried out a “fundamental betrayal” to the public and policing when he abused his position as an officer to engage in sexual activity with members of the public and Dorset Police.

Hairdresser, 44, who was killed by her ex in her salon was ‘let down’ by police who took her phone and left her an easy target, coroner says

February 2020 – “The family of hairdresser Katrina O’Hara today slammed the police for their ‘serious failings’ that allowed her violent ex-boyfriend to murder her. Ms O’Hara’s three children said they will ‘always feel let down’ by police who they suggested had brushed their mother’s fears about Stuart Thomas ‘under the carpet’.” 

Married police detective, 41, is sacked after sexually assaulting unwilling female colleague in her own home and having ‘inappropriate contact’ with her

February 2020 – The most serious allegation involved the officer turning up at the woman’s flat unannounced where he sexually assaulted her. After being let in he grabbed hold of the woman, kissed her and then lifted her up onto the breakfast bar. He then removed her top and bra, touched her breasts and ‘dry humped’ her. The woman feared the detective would rape her.

Two Dorset Police officers found guilty of gross misconduct 

January 2020 – When the officers arrived they discovered the woman was at the address with a man who was prevented from contacting her and from being at the address by the conditions of a non-molestation order. The man was liable to be arrested if found in breach of the order.

The officers spoke with the woman and the man at the address and made the decision not to arrest forming the view that there was no risk to the woman. The police log report following the officer’s attendance at the address was updated by PC White with false and inaccurate information. It recorded that the man was not present at the address.

13 Dorset Police staff arrested between 2015 and 2019 

August 2019 – A study by Newsquest’s data investigations unit found that 13 officers or members of staff were arrested in Dorset between May 2015 and 2019. Rape, burglary and assault are among the crimes employees were apprehended over, the investigation found. However, of 13 arrests, nine cases (69 per cent) were dropped and the employee faced no criminal or disciplinary action.

Sharon Perrett murder: Police ‘stopped calling abuse victim’

June 2019 – Police stopped trying to call an abuse victim shortly before she was murdered by her partner because her phone was off, an inquiry has found. Sharon Perrett, 37, was beaten to death by Daniel O’Malley-Keyes at her home in Christchurch, Dorset, in August.

Thousands of police officers and staff ‘not properly vetted’

February 2019 – BBC 5 Live Investigates spoke to Yvonne, not her real name, who was a long-term victim of domestic violence. After her husband attacked both her and her daughter during an incident in 2013, she called 999. When Dorset Police came to her home, one of the attending officers began to groom Yvonne. “He said a beautiful woman like you shouldn’t be treated like this. He started texting me, complimenting me, he was very persuasive,” she told the BBC.

Yvonne and the Dorset PC had a sexual relationship over the next six months, but she says she felt taken advantage of and used. She ended the affair, but says the officer would continue to come to her home unannounced, wearing his police uniform.

“I felt threatened. He said if anyone found out, the court case (for her husband’s domestic violence) would have to start all over again.”

Sacked police officer Allan Smith who sent threatening messages to woman is jailed

July 2015 – A disgraced police officer who sent sent frightening and threatening messages to a woman he harassed, as well as disclosing protected police information, has been jailed.

Allan Christopher Smith, aged 54, of Bovington, admitted multiple incidents of putting a person in fear of violence by harassment, disclosing information without lawful authority and obtaining information without lawful authority.

Criticism for Dorset Police over way it investigates some offences 

December 2014 – Due to a backlog of cases in the Safeguarding Referral Unit, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC)’s PEEL Report raised concerns that “potentially vulnerable victims were either waiting an unacceptable time for services or missed altogether”, and because the force’s definition of vulnerability was too narrow.