A senior police Inspector attempted to thwart an investigation into another officer who was accused of exposing himself and sexually assaulting a woman, it is alleged.
James Senior, who was a Detective Chief Inspector for Thames Valley Police, allegedly told the woman to “go home and sleep on it” after she reported an incident involving Met Police sergeant Anish Sharma.
It is said Sharma touched the woman’s thigh during a party at Senior’s home and allegedly went on to expose his penis.
The incident happened on July 30, 2021, four months after the murder of Sarah Everard and after revelations that her killer, PC Wayne Couzens, had been a serial flasher.
Senior, a long-standing friend of Sharma, is accused of questioning the woman’s account, saying “if it happened…”, suggesting her complaint was unlikely to lead to a prosecution, and allegedly telling her the investigation “would most likely be NFA’d”, meaning ‘no further action’.
Senior and Sharma, both now former police officers, are due to face a misconduct hearing next week.
According to a notice announcing the hearing, Senior is also accused of telling Sharma about the allegations that had been made, and potential evidence on phones is then said to have been deleted.
“On Friday 30 July 2021 there was a party in the Thames Valley area”, said the notice. “During the ‘party’, (the woman) disclosed to Senior that she had been sexually assaulted by PS Sharma in the garden and that he had exposed his penis to her.
“In doing so she disclosed to you that PS Sharma had thereby committed sexual offences against her”.
Senior is accused of being “inadequate, unsupportive and offensive” in response, including saying: “Have a think about what you want to do as we all have careers.”
It is said instead of promptly investigating, Senior told Sharma about the allegation and allowed him to leave the scene.
“By disclosing such information to the suspect you created the potential for evidence to be lost or destroyed”, said the misconduct notice.
“Following your disclosure to PS Sharma, and before he was questioned on 1 August 2021, he did in fact delete messages he had sent you on WhatsApp on the night of 30 July and the morning of 31 July 2021.”
Senior also faces an allegation that he signed a “false and misleading” witness statement about the incident, saying he did not remember the sexual assault allegation being made and failing to mention the now-deleted WhatsApp messages.
Sharma, who was part of the Met’s West Area Basic Command Unit, is accused of sexually assaulting the woman and exposing himself to her.
He also allegedly denying the existence of potential phone evidence, while both former officers are accused of “grossly offensive, derogatory, discriminatory and misogynistic” WhatsApp exchanges before the alleged sexual assault.
The misconduct hearing is set to begin on July 12 at the Thames Valley police headquarters.
