Senior policeman broke Covid lockdown rules to have sex with rookie officer, 21

The 41-year-old, whose wife was undergoing cancer treatment at the time, broke Covid rules by having sex with student officer Caitlin Howarth, with whom he struck up an illicit relationship.

The pair met up in her flat whilst he was on duty in January 2021, which Greenwood accepted had been against the “spirit” of lockdown rules but denied it was an “absolute breach”.

Greenwood and Howarth continued a relationship until later that year, exchanging raunchy messages even after the 21-year-old began seeing a man who would later be convicted of drug offences, the West Yorkshire police authority said.

The tribunal heard on Wednesday that the pair met when her mother - a governor at his children’s primary school - introduced them in 2020, though they had previously exchanged messages online where he gave her advice on pursuing a career with the police.

In March 2020, he was given a promotion to chief superintendent, where he was silver commander for the force’s response to the Covid pandemic and lockdown rules.

In the summer of that year, messages between the pair became “flirtatious and openly sexual in nature”. Howarth told him that she was attracted to older men and that she wanted to leave her boyfriend, who she was at the time sharing a flat with.

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Howarth, who is now 24, told investigators: “He always asked me to delete the messages. I think he deleted them [so] his wife didn’t see.”

He admitted to exchanging the explicit messages, though thought she was mature enough to “engage in a sexual relationship” with him, the panel was told.

In October, a month before she joined the force, the pair had “consensual dressed sexual activity”. In January 2021, the two had sex at her flat whilst Greenwood was on duty.

The panel was told that they had sex again for a second time in July, by which time rumours of the affair had started to cause “tittle-tattle and gossip in the ranks”.

The relationship was exposed when Howarth was told by Greenwood that she did not need to give a reason when applying for annual leave, which a senior office later found out about and became suspicious.

John Beggs KC, representing West Yorkshire Police, told the hearing that at this point he “began to appreciate the trouble he had brought upon himself”.

Haworth then entered into a relationship with drug Joseph Shaw, and after a probe into their relationship, she was arrested on November 2, 2021, for misconduct in public office. Greenwood was suspended the next day.

Beggs said: “Whatever her sexual desires for Greenwood, it ought reasonably to have been obvious to an officer of [his] length of service, age and rank that she was vulnerable in any relationship with him by reason of the stark disparity in age and rank.”

Greenwood’s lawyer, Hugh Davies KC, said that his client had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and had an alcohol addiction.

The 41-year-old was deemed “not fit to give evidence”. Davies added: “A promising police career has ended. Many perceived he had the potential to become a chief officer. That is all now gone.”

The panel will decide on Thursday whether or not Greenwood would have been dismissed had he still been employed by the force.