West Midlands Police officer sent hundreds of sexual messages to vulnerable victims

A married police officer who sent sexual messages to vulnerable victims and contacted prostitutes while at work has been jailed for 14 months.

Pc Palvinder Singh sent "hundreds and hundreds" of flirty messages to four victims, including ones about bondage and threesomes, a court heard.

Birmingham Crown Court was told that Singh sent naked pictures of himself to two women, including a selfie in the shower and one beside his locker at a police station.

In a statement summarised by the prosecution to the court, one of the women he had formed a relationship with said he had treated his job "as a dating agency".

The 39-year-old Smethwick-based officer, who has been married for 16 years, invited one of the women to his family home to engage in sexual activity while his wife was away.

The court also heard that one of the women had performed a sex act on him in a car park after they had exchanged 733 messages between June and August last year.

A 'Smethwick massage'

Opening the case against Singh, prosecutor Jennifer Josephs said: "He very quickly turned any contact into one of a sexual nature.

"(The messaging) was prolific - hundreds and hundreds of messages on a daily basis."

As well as "trying it on" with the women, Singh also visited an escort in police uniform after inquiring about a "Smethwick massage".

The court was told there was no evidence that he had engaged in sexual activity with any prostitutes.

Singh, of Burns Road, Wednesbury, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to five counts of the improper exercise of police powers and privileges.

He was dismissed from West Midlands Police at a disciplinary hearing a week before his court appearance on Wednesday, despite having previously been commended for bravery.

Jailing Singh, Judge Roderick Henderson told the disgraced officer: "You have a fine record as a police officer over 14 years and you have thrown it away.

"Over five months you went off the rails and committed these offences.

"We give our police officers great power, not just legal powers, but influence."

The judge continued: "They are the people we turn to in a crisis and we need to be able to trust them.

"The effect of behaviour like yours is to make people, women in particular, reluctant to call on police during a crisis in their lives.

"It is obvious to everyone that the police should not behave like this."

Referring to one of his victims during her opening speech, Ms Josephs said: "He told her he would be in trouble for messaging her while at work.

"Whilst off sick he messaged her using the work phone over 300 times."

'Treated job like dating agency'

In a victim impact statement read to the court by the Crown's barrister, one of the women said: "If I'm honest, I'm confused about how I feel about Pc Singh.

"Looking back, I am shocked as to how he behaved - I feel embarrassed about what happened.

"I expected him not to come into work and treat his job as a dating agency."

Ms Josephs said another victim had said the way Singh treated her made her feel "undervalued", "very low" and "miserable".

The former police constable wept in the dock as his defence barrister, Sharonjit Bahia, spoke of how his wife, who attended the hearing, had stuck by him despite his behaviour.

Speaking on Singh's behalf, Ms Bahia said: "He was abusing his power to further his contact with women, rather than to take advantage of them."

After the hearing, Chief Inspector Yvonne Bruton from the force’s Professional Standards team, said: “Singh abused his trusted position as a neighbourhood officer for his own sexual gain.

“There is no room in the police force for corrupt behaviour and particularly where this takes advantage of those who are vulnerable and look to the police for help and protection.

"This is an abuse of trust in the worst form, and there is no place for officers like this in West Midlands Police."