A misconduct panel heard hero officer PC Zoe Williams, praised for saving a toddler with CPR in 2024, “cupped” a man’s groin during a drunken Bank Holiday night out
A hero woman cop groped a male pubgoer when she “sexually” touched him during a boozy Bank Holiday night out, a misconduct panel heard. PC Zoe Williams was honoured for her bravery when she saved a toddler’s life on a beach in 2024 by performing CPR until paramedics arrived.
But a disciplinary hearing was told she “cupped” a pub-goer’s groin during a boozy night out and was dancing in an “extravagant manner”. The panel heard PC Williams had been drinking with friends in a pub and had consumed “a significant number of alcoholic drinks that evening”.
The group later headed to the RAFA Club in St Davids in Pembrokeshire, Wales in the early hours of Saturday, August 24, 2024 where they met a group of men on the way.
CCTV showed PC Williams’ behaviour was “quite disinhibited”, as she was seeing hugging people and “dancing in a fairly extravagant manner”. She was allegedly “particularly interested” in one man she had met on the way to the club and while on the dancefloor “touched or cupped his groin without any reasonable belief that he consented”.
PC Williams “vehemently denied” the allegation against her, saying she did not deliberately touch the man’s groin. She said in a prepared statement: “I was moving past him and instinctively moved him by touching his midriff.
“There was no assault.” The panel found she deliberately touched the man and that the touching was likely sexual in nature.
In a ruling, the panel members said: “The panel finds that this was not inadvertent or accidental. The panel also finds that the touching was sexual because of the location of the touching.
“In the panel’s judgement, by doing this, PC Williams was probably telling Male A that she was sexually interested in him.” They said PC Williams “did not exercise self-control when in the RAFA Club”, nor did she “show respect and courtesy towards Male A, whom she hardly knew”.
It added: “The panel finds that the misconduct in this case is so serious that it could result in the dismissal of the officer and is assessed as being gross misconduct.” But Williams was allowed to keep her job due to her previous heroics when she was off-duty walking her dog when she saved the child’s life.
Testimonials described her as a capable and compassionate officer, who was seen as a “credit to the police service apart from this one off-duty incident”. The panel also determined the incident was out of character and gave her a final written warning for two years.
It said: “In the panel’s judgement a final written warning for two years will make it clear to fellow officers and the general public that the inappropriate behaviour of PC Williams in the St David’s RAFA Club in the early hours of August 24, 2025 had the potential to undermine public confidence in, and the reputation of, the police service. A final written warning will also allow PC Williams to continue to serve as a police officer, allowing her to continue to make a valuable contribution to her local community.
“To dismiss PC Williams would be disproportionately harsh towards her and would harm the community where she lives and works by depriving it of someone who has proved to be a good police officer in the past. In the panel’s judgement this was an isolated incident which was out of character for PC Williams.”
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