On-duty PC 'touched woman's private parts'

OFFICER SHOWED CARTOON MEME AFTER 'BACKHANDING', COURT TOLD

- JAMES CARTLEDGE

Daniel Gentles leaves Warwick Crown Court, where he pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting a woman while on duty

AN on-duty Midland police constable sexually assaulted a woman by “backhanding” her in her private parts and later claimed his actions were intended as a joke, a court heard.

Daniel Gentles, who jurors were told is no longer a police officer, is accused of assaulting the woman “out of the blue” in 2023, and then using his mobile phone to show her a cartoon meme of a man hitting a woman in similar circumstances.

Gentles, then aged 19 and now 22, denies sexually assaulting the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, over her clothing during a shift in Warwickshire, prosecutor Matthew Barnes told Warwick Crown Court.