A worrying trend of protecting identities of rogue officers

AN OFF-DUTY police officer covertly photographed men in a gym then used an Instagram alias to bombard them with disturbing messages and images he had taken without consent.

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Although South Wales Police fired the officer, it is also determined to hide his name and rank from the public. Why? We don’t know, exactly, but we do know the force is developing a habit of protecting sacked officers from accountability.

The decision to anonymise this policeman as ‘Officer Y’ was taken by assistant chief constable Jenny Gilmer, who chaired his misconduct hearing.

Initially, her explanation was that naming him would be “embarrassing” and have an “adverse impact” on him and his family.

The Western Mail appealed against this decision, but our bid to overturn the reporting restriction has now been rejected by Ms Gilmer.

She refused to explain her reasons, but insisted they “do go beyond embarrassment to the officer and, in my judgement as chair, would have led to catastrophic impact on family members of the officer”.

Her stance seems to fly in the face of precedent.

A crucial Supreme Court ruling in the 2017 case of Khuja v Times Newspapers found that even if press coverage of court proceedings involving Mr Khuja was “painful” or “humiliating” for him and his family, this was “the price to be paid for open justice and the freedom of the press”.

There are serious concerns, too, over how Officer Y escaped prosecution. He was arrested on suspicion of malicious communications but the case never made it to court. According to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the “evidential” test was not met.

Gym CCTV from around the time the photos were taken showed the officer leaning over an interior balcony with a phone in his hand while one of the victims exercised below. Pictures of that victim were shared on an Instagram account later linked to the officer's address.

The disciplinary panel found his home had not been visited by anyone who had both access to the WiFi password and membership of the gym.