Groping policeman boasted of hurting people
BBCA police officer who groped a woman after boasting about hurting people in his job has been given a suspended sentence.
Daniel Hedley, 34, was working for Northumbria Police while studying for a law degree at Durham University, where younger students were alarmed by his actions and the way he would brag about them, Teesside Crown Court heard.
A woman who Hedley groped on a night out said she had "completely lost trust" in the police as a result of her experience.
Hedley, from Morpeth, denied wrongdoing but was jailed for eight months suspended for a year and a half after being found guilty of sexual assault. The court heard he had since been dismissed from the force for gross misconduct.
The officer would attend university and social events in his uniform, including his police utility belt, prosecutor James Yearsley said.
He would "boast of his exploits in the police" to other students, who were "significantly younger" than him, the court heard.
Hedley would talk about the "powers he had" and how to get away" with "violence" inflicted on people he was arresting, while his fellow students regarded him as "odd" and were "disturbed by his conduct as a serving officer", Yearsley said.
He also asked a young woman if she wanted to be handcuffed in his bedroom, the court heard.
'Nowhere safe'
After the sexual assault was reported, Hedley's home was searched by officers who discovered handcuffs, uniforms and three extendable batons which he was "not authorised to have", the prosecutor said.
Hedley later made false allegations against both the woman he groped and her parents, the court heard.
The woman told the court: "I have completely lost my trust in the police."
She said she felt "constantly exhausted and worried" for her safety, with "nowhere safe to turn".
"My world has become much smaller," the woman said, but added: "I refuse to let what happened to me keep me quiet."
Recorder Taryn Turner said although the sexual assault happened while Hedley was off-duty, he was a serving police officer and had repeatedly sought to draw people's attention to his "status".
As part of his suspended sentence, Hedley will have to complete 120 hours unpaid work and abide by a curfew between 20:00 and 06:00 for three months.
He was also ordered to pay the victim £500 compensation and must sign the sex offenders register for 10 years.
