A pervert police officer was today (Tue) jailed for four years after he admitted sexually assaulting two women on duty – including one in the back of a PATROL CAR.
PC Steven Walters, 48, groped the first victim after giving her a lift in a police car after seeing her walking along the street late at night in February last year.
Two months later Walters attacked another woman in her own home after she dialled 999 begging for help after her teenage son went missing.
Shockingly, after the boy returned home, Walters pushed the woman against a wall and shoved his hand inside her underwear, before snarling: “You don’t shave.”
The woman, in her 40s, was so disgusted by Walters’ attack she washed herself with bleach after he left causing burns to her body.
Walters, a dad-of-two, was finally nailed when his DNA was found in the woman’s pants and vest.
Today Walters, of Swadlincote, Derbys., was jailed for four years at Stafford Crown Court after previously admitting two counts of sexual assault.
A third count of misconduct in a public office was left on court file.
Judge Paul Green told him: “The public are entitled to have faith in police officers.
“You exploited that trust. You have brought disgrace on yourself and indeed the force you worked for.
“She (the second victim) bathed in bleach causing spots and burns to her face, chest and private areas.
“She describes being scared around men.
“You were able to overcome professional boundaries and that is a particularly serious aggravating factor.
“You did not expect your victims to report you because you were a police officer.
“You took advantage of situations.
“I accept the submission that these were not planned offences.
“Your problems are self-inflicted.”
Walters was also banned from a range of activities involving children and vulnerable adults and was ordered to sign the sex offender’s register.
Walters was a response officer for West Midlands Police based in Sutton Coldfield when he attacked the first victim while he was on patrol on February 8 last year.
While he was in a marked police car, Walters and a colleague offered a lift to the woman, in her 20s, who was walking home from a night out.
The driver, a colleague of Walters, asked her what she was “doing at that time of night in that dress.”
She accepted the lift but while she sat in the back seat for the five-minute journey Walters, who was in the front passenger seat, reached over and touched her thigh.
Prosecutor Antonie Muller said: “In February last year, she left her house and went by a taxi to Sutton Coldfield to socialise and went to one or two licensed premises.
“She was on medication so didn’t drink much, consequently she got bored and decided to leave.
“She left for home on her own.
“Way after midnight, when a marked police car passed her, she noticed it turn around and pull up next to her.
“Two police officers were in the car, and the driver asked what she was doing and if
she had been drinking.
“She was invited to get in the car so they could give her a lift home.
“She felt obliged to agree with the officers, so she did and she sat behind the driver.
“The defendant was in the front seat.
“They were asking her about her evening and she made it plain she had one drink and a cup of tea.
“The driver said would she invite them in for a cup of tea.
“Both officers commenced teasing her and she didn’t like it. It made her feel uneasy.
“The defendant then leaned between the front seats and put his right hand on her left thigh just above the knee.
“Both officers continued to tease her while his hand remained on her thigh.
“She didn’t like it. She described feeling scared and creeped out.
“She got out and caught her heel on the seat and felt like the officers were looking at her legs and it made her feel uncomfortable.
“The following day, she told her parents.
“What made her report it was one of her colleagues who was a former police officer.
“She wanted the officers to be warned and she wanted an apology.
“It was the defendant who asked the driver to turn around and see if she was okay.”
Police confirmed the driver was not investigated and no charges brought against him.
Walters struck again on April 15 last year while attending the house of a woman, in her 40s, who dialled 999 after her 16-year-old son went missing.
The schoolboy returned home and went upstairs while Walters pushed his mum up against the hallway, kissed her and put his hand inside her underwear.
The attack took place while the woman’s son and 19-year-old daughter were upstairs while her baby son was asleep on the sofa in the living room.
Mr Mullen said: “He put his hand on her leg, pushed her against the wall and kissed her face and neck.
“He put her hand on his groin with a firm grip and he had an erection.
“He told her ‘Look what you’ve done’ and said they should go upstairs to ‘Sort this out’ which no doubt implies having sex.
“He put his hand in her knickers and she said ‘Please don’t, the children are here’.
“He touched her breasts over her top and tried touching under her clothing.
“He spoke to her about going to Derbyshire the following day and she agreed just to get rid of him.
“He took her number and he left.
“She called a relative and she was scared that he knew where she lived.
“She thought he would come back at night. She didn’t sleep that night.
“She cried all night. She had a bleach bath as she felt dirty.”
Walters was arrested on May 6 and denied the allegations – but forensics experts found his DNA on the pants and vest of the woman he’d attacked in her own home.
He even claimed the DNA evidence was as a result of sneezing near the woman, but on the first day of his trial on September 5 he changed his plea.
An impact statement from the first victim said: “I have suffered severe anxiety.
“I am much more paranoid when I see police officers and police cars.”
“I don’t think police officers follow the rules of other people.
“I have panic attacks. I was scared to push his hand away in the car in case I got into any trouble.”
An impact statement on behalf of the second victim said: “My life has turned upside down.
“I felt like rubbish in the corner.
“I will never trust people again. I take anxiety medication, sleeping pills and have panic attacks.
“I have been diagnosed with depression and anxiety.
“I see all men differently and I feel like a weak woman.”
Harpreet Sandhu, defending, said: “He has clearly lost his good character as a result of this offence.
“He is about to lose his liberty at the age of 48 for the first time.
“It is his position [as a police officer] which has aggravated the offending.
“His livelihood will be lost too.
“He is a man who had an unstable childhood.
“He moved on from that and raised a daughter single-handedly.
“He also has a son and has been entirely fearful of losing him.
“He has shown himself to be a man who does not want to trouble the authorities.
“His life will now change beyond recognition.
“He is a man who will struggle to gain employment.
“He is a man whose punishment will continue well beyond his return to the community.”
Speaking after the case, West Midlands Police Chief Constable Dave Thompson said it was “one of the worst violations of policing integrity I’ve ever seen.”
He said: “The public expects simple things from the police: that they can trust us, that we offer friendship and service to people in need, and that vulnerable people are safe in our care.
“A police uniform should be a beacon of comfort and protection. PC Walters has engaged in criminal activity that has shocked me, in 26 years police service this is one of the worst violations of policing integrity I have ever seen.
“People at a point where they needed our help were abused by this officer who used his uniform and power to enter people’s lives.
“I am deeply sorry for what has happened and apologise on behalf of the force.
“Having read one victim statement I am left in no doubt of the terrible impact these crimes have had on people.
“I only hope the public and PC Walters’ victims can understand the efforts we and the IPCC will take to bring officers who fail the public in this way to justice.
“There is no place for a criminal like PC Walters in this force, I don’t accept his apology, and I have no hesitation for dismissing him without notice.”
The court heard Walters has been sacked from the force for gross misconduct and the case referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
IPCC Commissioner Derrick Campbell said: “We carried out a thorough investigation after this matter was referred to us, and that found that Walters had completely abused his position of trust by targeting and taking advantage of vulnerable women for his own sexual gratification.
“Walters has now paid a heavy price for his actions, and I hope this case demonstrates that those who engage in such inappropriate and criminal behaviour will be held to account.
“I would like to again praise the courage and bravery of the women who came forward to give evidence against him, and hope that they can now move on in the knowledge that justice has been done.”
