Sergeant sacked for 'slapping female colleague's bottom'
Police sergeant who won bravery gong is sacked for ‘slapping a female colleague’s bottom, making sex noises and squirting hand sanitiser at her’
- Wayne Wright’s behaviour at Northumbria Police was ‘unprofessional and sexist’
A police sergeant who won a bravery award has been sacked for ‘slapping a female colleague’s bottom, making sex noises and squirting hand sanitiser at her’.
Northumbria Police Sgt Wayne Wright became obsessed with the police constable’s bottom for two years, she claimed, and is alleged to have left her with post-traumatic stress disorder.
On one occasion the senior officer is alleged to have slapped the junior officer’s bottom from behind and shouted ‘Woo’.
Sgt Wright – who won a bravery gong alongside three other colleagues in 2007 for trying to save a 13-year-old boy – was sacked yesterday for gross misconduct following a three-day disciplinary hearing at the Old Magistrates’ Court, Houghton Police Station, Houghton-le-Spring, Sunderland.
The junior officer, named only as PC A in documents ahead of the hearing, told the panel ‘he liked my trousers tight and would wolf whistle at her’ in the parade room of the station in front of other officers, reported The Sun.
Sgt Wayne Wright worked for Northumbria Police (pictured: force’s headquarters in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear) and was accused of being obsessed with his female colleague’s bottom
Colleagues left her feeling ‘humiliated, stupid, and embarrassed’ within the ‘misogynistic culture’ when they broke out into fits of laughter after Sgt Wright shouted ‘she is now a size 12’, she claimed.
The female officer felt so self-conscious she asked for larger size trousers, which he had to authorise, the hearing was told.
In or around November or December 2020, when strict coronavirus rules were in place, Sgt Wright was accused of squirting a hand sanitiser at her ‘to simulate a sexual act’ while making ‘loud’ sexual noises.
He claimed the hand sanitiser incident didn’t happen and denied breaching police standards. But a panel ruled his behaviour was unprofessional and sexist.
In 2007, Sgt Wright received a Royal Human Society Award when clambered over rocks to try and save a teen boy from the sea in Hendon in zero temperatures.
He and three other colleagues managed to pull the 13-year-old from the rough waters, but he later died despite their attempts to resuscitate him, reported ChronicleLive.
MailOnline contacted Northumbria Police for comment, and the force referred us to a generic statement from Superintendent Steve Ammari published in January.
The head of the force’s professional standards department says: ‘Sadly, from time-to-time, behaviour or conduct of members of our own organisation does fall below the standard we, and the public, expect.
‘The overwhelming majority of our officers, staff and volunteers come to work each and every day to make a positive difference to people’s lives – and they equally feel as let down as the public when their colleagues fail to meet the standards they agreed to uphold.’
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