A police officer has been jailed after having had a sexual relationship with a teen before urging her to destroy evidence of their affair.
Gordon Donaldson, 45, was a uniformed officer in Midlothian when in 2016 he met Anisha Yaseen, aged 17, who was described as “extremely vulnerable”. He was investigating reports she had made of alleged domestic abuse.
The married dad gave her his personal email and phone number, and they went on to exchange more than 28,000 messages over four years.
They later began a “consensual sexual relationship” which came to the attention of Police Scotland’s anti-corruption unit (ACU).
Under suspicion that he was being investigated, Donaldson begged the young woman to delete evidence of their affair in a bid to save his policing career.
He pled guilty to perverting the course of justice between November 20 and 22, 2020, and on Thursday was jailed for 14 months at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
Sheriff Douglas Keir said while sentencing Donaldson: "The offence committed was a calculated and deliberate attempt by a serving police officer to pervert the course of a police investigation into your behaviour. The offence is aggravated by the abuse of the trust placed in you by the vulnerable young woman involved.
"In all of the circumstances, while I have considered all options, I have concluded that there is no alternative sentence to a custodial sentence for an offence of this gravity."
Donaldson, who has resigned from the force, was based at Dalkeith police station when he met Anisha in May 2016.
The court previously heard that he noted her statement after she reported a crime, but she then revealed to him she’d been raped. He passed this complaint on to colleagues
He then emailed Anisha despite having nothing to do with the inquiry. He described himself to her as the “giant Australian officer” she met.
The pair exchanged emails, and Donaldson gave his personal email address to communicate, adding: “As long as it stays private.”
The court was told 28,133 messages were sent from February 2017 and November 2020.
Donaldson and Anisha were in other relationships during this time, the prosecutor added, and had sexual contact for the first time in 2018.
The court was told the ACU became aware of an alleged relationship between a “police officer and a victim of crime”.
ACU officers interviewed Anisha who admitted a “sexual relationship”.
Donaldson was placed on restricted duties on November 20 2020, but not told why.
Within an hour, officers visited Anisha. While they were at her home, Donaldson sent Anisha a message asking her to erase messages they exchanged.
Donaldson was suspended from duty five days later. He had served as an officer since 2011.
Sheriff Keir added: "This is a very serious offence, involving your attempts to instruct a vulnerable young woman to destroy evidence of the relationship you had conducted with her. You first met this young woman in the course of your police duties investigating allegations by her of domestic abuse. You maintained contact with her, engaged in frequent communication with her and then formed a consensual sexual relationship with her.
"When you suspected that Police Scotland were investigating you in relation to that relationship, you repeatedly instructed her to delete all evidence from her phone of all communications you had had with her, suggested to her that she did not hand over her phone to investigating police officers and attempted to influence what she should say to those police officers.
"All of this was done while you were a serving police officer which is a significant aggravating factor. The general public and society as a whole have the right to expect the highest standards of those who serve in the police force. By your deliberate actions, you have fallen far short of those standards and damaged the trust that is placed in the police."
As previously reported in the Record, Anisha, who waived her anonymity, said she had believed Donaldson was someone who “took care of me, protected me, guided me, and loved me”.
Anisha said it was only when ACU officers became involved that "the term 'grooming' was used”.
She said Donaldson’s guilty plea was “confirmation that the stable period in my life was a lie”.
Chief Superintendent Catriona Henderson, of Police Scotland, previously said: “Gavin Donaldson abused his position and his behaviour does not represent Police Scotland’s values or standards of professional behaviour.
“Had he remained a serving officer, the circumstances of his offences would now be considered for misconduct proceedings.”
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