Two officers have been dismissed from the Police Service of Northern Ireland after Special Case Hearings overseen by the Chief Constable. The decisions were taken on Thursday, 28th May, after conduct found to be abhorrent and showing no respect for colleagues in the workplace.

Chief Constable Jon Boutcher has recently reiterated to the Northern Ireland Policing Board his commitment to the highest standards of professional behaviour and to fostering a respectful workplace culture across the service.

Commenting on the two recent cases, Chief Superintendent Stephen Murray, who leads the Professional Standards branch, said: "One of the male officers was dismissed after being convicted of two counts of sexual assault against a female colleague.

"These occurred during social events whilst the officers were off duty – and consisted of non-consensual sexual touching of a female colleague's buttocks. "This was determined by the Chief Constable to be gross misconduct and the officer was dismissed from the organisation.

"A second officer, in a separate case, faced internal misconduct proceedings following unacceptable behaviour during a work night out.

"The male officer made a sexualised comment towards a female colleague, and groped the buttock of another female colleague.

"This represented a serious breach of professional standards, and risked significant damage to confidence in policing. The Chief Constable determined this behaviour to be gross misconduct and this officer was also dismissed. The officer had been previously found guilty of sexual assault, in a criminal court, in respect of the same incident."

Chief Superintendent Murray continued: "These dismissals demonstrate that sexual misconduct, misogyny and sexist behaviour have no place in the Police Service of Northern Ireland and reflect our zero-tolerance approach to this type of behaviour.

"We recognise the significant harm that sexual misconduct, harassment, misogynistic and sexist behaviour can cause to victims, individuals, teams and public confidence."