A female police officer has been jailed for six months after getting caught with a convicted rapist under her supervision.
Rachel Beale, 53, was caught be her boyfriend, Jason Elliott, in bed with sex offender Marc Few, 44, with whom she was having an intimate affair.
Few was Convicted of Raping a Woman in 2003
Beale fell for Few when she brought him home to her country cottage to do odd jobs for her. Elliott became suspicious when he woke up one morning to find Beale missing, the court heard. "He went to an address where he knew Mr Few was staying and caught him naked in bed with Ms Beale on top of him in a nightdress," said Prosecutor James Haskell said.
Few was jailed for six years in 2003 after raping a woman in Devizes, Wiltshire and was put on the Sex Offenders Register for life. He was released from jail in February 2020.
Beale was in a "position of trust" as manager in the Sexual and Violent Offenders Unit at Wiltshire Police where Few was one of the 50 people she looked after. She denied having sexual intercourse with Few but at a previous hearing, prosecutors alleged there was enough evidence to indicate that they had slept together.
Beale, Few Exchanged Explicit Text Messages
Elliott also recalled one occasion when Beale was on the phone to Few, who told her "so it's just blow jobs from now on then."
Police also found Beale had used her private phone to send intimate messages to Few. One sent on August 8 in 2020 said: "I want you in me when you get home!X"
Beale Abused Her Power During Affair with Few
Beale admitted to having an intimate, emotional relationship with Few while she was his supervising officer knowing there was an imbalance of power and conflict of interest.
She also used her status as an officer during Covid to make hotel bookings knowing they were not for law enforcement purposes. She also Few to smoke cannabis at her home in the village of Kencot, Oxfordshire. The offences were committed between February and September 2020.
"Those who abuse trust and responsibility must understand that it is inevitable a custodial sentence is the consequence if they act in the way you did," Judge Peter Blair told Beale. "It's an important matter of public deterrence for sentences to clearly flag the behaviour of the sort you fell into will be punished and will be punished severely."
Beale Permanently Barred from Working in the Police Force
Following her guilty plea last month, an internal gross misconduct hearing was held last week and ruled that she would have been dismissed from Wiltshire Police had she not previously resigned.
She has also been added to the College of Policing barred register to ensure she will not be able to work for any another police force, nor in an external vetted risk role.
Deputy Chief Constable Paul Mills said, "It goes without saying that we expect the highest levels of conduct from all our officers, staff and volunteers, something which is even more important when an employee is directly involved in supervising offenders within our community."
"She was immediately suspended from duties when this matter was brought to our attention, and, once she had pleaded guilty in court we held an internal misconduct hearing, which resulted in her being dismissed from the Force," he added. "This misconduct outcome protects the public by ensuring she is placed on the national barred list and cannot seek further work at any other police forces."
