A barrister has claimed a domestic violence victim who began a relationship with a police officer who met her on duty was not vulnerable. Ben Summers is representing PC Dean Birkhead, a serving GMP officer at a disciplinary hearing.
Mr Summers said female A, as she is referred to at the hearing, was "a powerful woman who knew her own mind". He added she was capable of making her own decsions and it was "patronising" and "deeply offensive" to assume that because she was a victim of her former husband's behaviour she was "incapable of recognising a predatory male."
He added that since she and PC Birkhead had begun the relationship they had gone on to make a life together. He dismissed the allegation that PC Birkhead had abused his position for sexual purposes.
"Female A was a capable and consenting adult...she is a powerful woman who knows her own mind. It couldn't be any further, is our position, from him abusing his authority for sexual purposes. Real people are more complicated than simple-minded labelling. Of course she would be identified for the purposes of safeguarding as being vulnerable. The fact that she ticks the box literally and figuratively of being vulnerable from a safeguarding point of view should not be equated with she's vulnerable at the hands of PC Birkhead."
Female A, who divorced her husband in 2019, told the hearing herself that she did believe she was vulnerable.
PC Birkhead has admitted he "buried his head in the sand" and failed to report the relationship he had formed with female A. PC Dean Birkhead told the misconduct hearing he was "scared" of the potential consequences.
The hearing was told that his contact with female A, developed rapidly after he took two statements from her alleging abuse by her then husband on December 8th and 11th 2018. By December 24th the woman had sent him a picture of her in a bikini. In early January 2019 she sent two images of her and the officer merged with the captions "hot stuff us baby" and "we make a hot couple". But PC Birkhead and the woman both denied it was a sexual relationship at that stage.
PC Birkhead had organised the arrest of the woman's then partner, after he had breached the conditions of his bail. The woman had called 999 on December 7th 2018 about a domestic incident involving her husband. When PC Birkhead later visited her with a member of police staff, she said she she was convinced her husband would kill her.
But by December 13th the woman was contacting PC Birkhead on his personal mobile phone. The woman told the hearing she contacted him via his personal mobile as it was quicker than hanging on the line via 101.
The officer, who is based in Stockport, is accused of forming a relationship with a domestic abuse victim, not informing anyone at GMP about the relationship, and of hiding his phone, and providing inaccurate information when investigated. He is now answering allegations that his actions amounted to gross misconduct.
He denies the allegations, but does not dispute claims he contacted and met the woman outside of work. In April 2019 he left his marital home.
PC Birkhead accepted that he and female A went on holiday to Grasmere in the Lake District in August 2019, and by then the relationship was sexual. He was arrested in September that year while on a course.
Asked by Mr Summers how PC Birkhead conducted himself when communicating with her, female A, said: "Professional. I kind of thought I've met my match on a professional level. Dean did deal with things to my level."
When asked if PC Birkhead had shown any lack of self control in his communications, she said: "No. There was no question of him stepping over the mark or being involved in something I didn't want to."
Mr Summers asked: "Did you ever perceive that he was abusing his position." She replied: "We are assuming that's what police officers do. I've never had any dealing with police officers before those recent years. We have been brought up to respect the police. For someone to suggest Dean was abusing his position - maybe we should look at like Dean was the vulnerable one - I was not the vulnerable one at all."
According to GMP, PC Birkhead and female A contacted each other 878 times over four months, including sending photos of each other. On December 17th 2018 PC Birkhead spent two hours at her home. He said it was to return a diary seized from her home during a previous police search. In the early hours of December 28th he attended a party at her home. But barrister, Cameron Scott, for GMP, suggested both visits were "personal", which PC Birkhead denied.
The pair attended a match between Manchester City and Burton Albion together in January 2019. They then attended another City game that month against Newcastle away. They spent the night at the Travelodge in Newcastle, sharing a room, but PC Birkhead said they were not intimate that night.
Barrister Cameron Scott, for GMP, suggested to PC Birkhead that at sometime in December 2018 he was physically attracted to female A. He replied "No sir, I wasn't." Mr Scott told him: "This was a whirlwind romance - you meet in December and by April you have left your wife." PC Birkhead replied: "That's absolutely not the case, sir. There were many other mitigating factors going on in my personal life months before that happened, so no, that is not the case."
Mr Scott told the hearing that female A may not have seen herself as vulnerable in December 2018 "but she clearly was". He said that PC Birkhead's behaviour in having a relationship with the woman "undoubtedly discredits" the service. He added that in his submission the allegations had been proved on the balance of probabilities.
Mr Summers said there was " a lot of heat but not much light" in terms of establishing when the relationship between PC Birkhead and the woman moved from professional to personal. He claimed there was also on the part of the case being put by GMP an "unhealthy and sexist" preoccupation with the bikini photograph.
