Met officer despatched sexual picture to girl who threatened to hold herself

A former Met Police officer who worked in the same unit as Wayne Couzens and David Carrick exhibited ‘predatory sexual behaviour’ and slept with a suicidal woman after carrying out a ‘welfare check’ at her home in August 2017.

Ex-soldier Phil Hunter, 60, also sent the woman, known only as X, a sexually explicit image a week after she threatened to hang herself.

Hunter resigned from the force prior to a misconduct hearing in 2020 when a panel found he had slept with the suicidal woman.

Eight days after meeting his first victim, he was called out to another welfare check which he used to give a second woman his personal phone number, called her a ‘lovely lady’ and invited her out for coffee and to call him ‘any time’, the hearing was told.

It heard Hunter was accused of inappropriate communications with Y with the express purpose of ‘forming a sexual relationship with her or to have inappropriate sexual contact with her.’

Thom Dyke, for the Met, told the panel the pair had exchanged text messages and emails that were ‘wholly inappropriate’, especially given Y’s ‘vulnerable’ state.

Barrister Dyke said his previous relationship with X ‘shows a pattern of predatory sexual behaviour towards vulnerable members of the public.’

The panel was told it was important to have the second gross misconduct hearing so that if found to be in breach of his obligations, Hunter will not be able to reapply to be a police officer in the future.

He added Hunter’s behaviour was ‘deliberate and pre-meditated’ and that he had ‘abused [his] position for sexual purpose’. 

He said the bundle of evidence contained more than 70 pages of messages between the pair, which were sent between August 2017 and summer 2019.

Mr Dyke read out some of the messages Y sent to Hunter to highlight her level of vulnerability.

In one message Y told Hunter ‘it doesn’t matter anymore’ and added she had stopped eating and sleeping.

Another saw her tell him: ‘I’m not doing well… not sleeping at the moment and cried constantly since [last week]’.

She also described herself as ‘stressed’ and ‘upset’.

In one message she asked him: ‘Will someone help me now? I’m so upset today.’

Mr Dyke said Hunter had failed his duty of care to Y and instead repeatedly flirted with her and encouraged her to see him as her only confidant.    

Hunter, who was able to leave the force and be hired as a black cab driver after the first hearing was held in private, chose not to attend the hearing or send anyone to represent him.

After Y came forward with further allegations, Hunter was fired from his taxi cab role. 

Barrister Dyke told the hearing: ‘From at least the middle of 2017 up until the point he tended his resignation he was engaged in a pattern of sexually predatory behaviour targeting two vulnerable female members of the public with whom he had contact with during his duties.

‘The first of those incidents has already been the subject of misconduct proceedings and relates to X and started on 14 August 2017.

‘He was tasked with attending her home address to conduct a welfare check but used that encounter to initiate a sexual relationship with X and as a result she made attempts to take her own life.

‘He tendered his resignation prior to proceedings and left the police as of July 2019.

‘The misconduct hearing took place just under a year later in June 2020 when the allegations made by X were found to be proven and the decision of that panel were that if Hunter were still employed he would have been dismissed and he was placed on the barred list.’

Turning to Y, the barrister said she had told Hunter she had been referred to mental health services.

Some messages sought to isolate Y from her friends and family, the tribunal heard, before persuading her to submit a witness statement in his favour ahead of the 2020 misconduct hearing.

Mr Dyke said: ‘However the position changed in June 2020.

‘She explained how she had come to realise that Hunter’s behaviour had been wholly inappropriate, controlling and coercive towards her.

‘A further statement was then provided which sets out the reasons for her vulnerability specifically during that period together with the persistent predatory behaviour of Hunter including his attempts to isolate her from her friends and family.’

In a statement Hunter ‘flatly’ denied any wrongdoing and said the contact he had with Y was ‘nothing more than supportive or friendly communication.’

The 2020 hearing heard Hunter sent X a sexually explicit image just a week after she threatened to hang herself, before asking her to send him a naked picture.

She refused, but the couple had regular sex in her home after his shifts. She was left so traumatised by the relationship that she tried to kill herself multiple times.

The three-person panel, led by Dale Simon, retired and will deliver its verdict tomorrow.