A Kent Police officer who said he \u201ccouldn\u2019t stop looking\u201d at the breasts of a domestic abuse victim and showed colleagues intimate photos has been sacked.<\/p>\n
PC Ben Bayley-Cook, who worked in the Dartford area, was dismissed without notice after a misconduct panel found he sexually harassed a fellow officer and made a string of degrading comments about women, including members of the public.<\/p>\n
PC Ben Bayley-Cook has been dismissed without notice from Kent Police<\/p>\n
This included lewd remarks about a woman who had been in a crash and saying he liked \u201cskimpily dressed drunk females\u201d.<\/p>\n
The hearing was told his behaviour began just months after joining Kent Police in January 2022 and continued for more than a year.<\/p>\n
A misconduct report published by the force this week details 12 separate allegations, including repeated sexual comments, inappropriate remarks about colleagues\u2019 bodies – and showing officers photos of his penis, testicles and waxed anus. All but one of the allegations were found to be proven.<\/p>\n
One female constable, identified as PC A, was described by the panel as a \u201cvictim of sexual harassment\u201d and later left Kent Police to continue her policing career abroad.<\/p>\n
The panel found PC Bayley-Cook\u2019s conduct created an \u201cintimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment\u201d for female colleagues.<\/p>\n
His behaviour first sparked concerns while he attended classes at Kent Police College.<\/p>\n
During one session, he called PC A\u2019s mother a \u201cMILF\u201d after seeing a photo of her.<\/p>\n
The report says he also made repeated comments about his penis, including remarks about its size, and discussed masturbating.<\/p>\n
In one particularly disturbing exchange, he told another officer: \u201cI had a w**k about you before work today, I am so horny all the time that I have three w**ks before work now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weeks later, at a social event in May 2022, he was seen inviting colleagues to look at pictures of his penis on his mobile phone.<\/p>\n
A misconduct hearing was held at Kent Police HQ in Maidstone concerning PC Ben Bayley-Cook\u2019s behaviour<\/p>\n
The misconduct panel heard the behaviour escalated after he moved into local policing the following month.<\/p>\n
Referring to a female acting sergeant, he said: \u201cDon\u2019t f*** your sergeant rule is stupid because [she] is fit.\u201d<\/p>\n
He then added: \u201cI would destroy her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the most serious allegations were comments made after attending an incident involving a domestic abuse victim.<\/p>\n
Speaking to PC A afterwards, PC Bayley-Cook said: \u201cI couldn\u2019t stop looking at her tits.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also made lewd remarks about another female officer, including saying: \u201cI would love that arse sat on my face.\u201d<\/p>\n
On another occasion, he discussed attempting to wax his anus before showing colleagues photos of it. He later admitted this but claimed it was for \u201cmedical reasons\u201d.<\/p>\n
The panel also found proven allegations that he requested before-and-after pictures following a colleague\u2019s breast enlargement surgery, made repeated comments about his genitals, and offered to show photos of them.<\/p>\n
Other officers described him commenting on the breasts of female colleagues, frequently boasting about women he had slept with, and showing intimate images.<\/p>\n
Another allegation concerned him showing a PC pictures of his testicles and saying: \u201cSee, they are quite big, aren\u2019t they?\u201d<\/p>\n
I would destroy her\u2026<\/p>\n
In one incident involving a woman injured in a road crash, he told a colleague: \u201cShe was alright, wasn\u2019t she?\u201d before adding: \u201cI would.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also said he liked \u201cskimpily dressed drunk females\u201d and liked summer because \u201call the girls are dressed like sl*ts\u201d.<\/p>\n
PC Bayley-Cook also showed a picture of his scrotum to another constable on his mobile phone while other male and female officers were present.<\/p>\n
He said to the PC on a night out with colleagues in 2023, while referring to a new member of the team: \u201cOh yeah, that new girl, I\u2019d f*** her\u201d.<\/p>\n
All allegations were denied by PC Bayley-Cook, who claimed PC A had lied and alleged fellow officers had conspired against him.<\/p>\n
But the panel, chaired by Assistant Chief Officer Andy Pritchard, rejected his account entirely.<\/p>\n
It found PC A to be \u201can honest, truthful and credible witness who gave reliable evidence\u201d, with other officers also giving truthful evidence.<\/p>\n
The only allegation not proven was a claim he mocked PC A\u2019s dyslexia.<\/p>\n
The panel explicitly noted that PC Bayley-Cook had \u201cnot demonstrated any insight or remorse into his behaviour\u201d.<\/p>\n
In its conclusions, the panel said his conduct violated colleagues\u2019 dignity.<\/p>\n
Multiple officers made allegations about PC Ben Bayley-Cook. Stock image<\/p>\n
The report said his actions caused \u201cdirect harm\u201d to PC A, who had considered leaving policing because of his behaviour before later moving abroad.<\/p>\n
Despite relocating, she stayed up late to give evidence by video link during the hearing, something the panel said showed how seriously she viewed his conduct.<\/p>\n
The report says: \u201cThe panel was satisfied the conduct of PC Bayley-Cook had the effect of violating the dignity of, and creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for female colleagues.\u201d<\/p>\n
The panel also found he showed a \u201cfailure to act with self-control and respect towards female colleagues\u201d – and that his conduct towards PC A amounted to sexual harassment of her as defined in section 26 of the Equality Act.<\/p>\n
The report also notes the potential reputational harm to the police service and how PC Bayley-Cook\u2019s conduct \u201ccould undermine public confidence in policing\u201d.<\/p>\n
It adds: \u201cThe panel noted the scale and depth of national concern around police officers acting inappropriately, particularly with respect to sexual matters with, and violence towards, women and girls.\u201d<\/p>\n
PC Bayley-Cook, who had previously served as a Met Police officer between 2017 and 2019, was found guilty of gross misconduct following the hearing between March 23 and 26.<\/p>\n
He was dismissed without notice.<\/p>\n
PC Bayley-Cook previously served as a Met Police officer<\/p>\n
Detective Chief Superintendent Jon Armory, head of professional standards at Kent Police, said: \u201cThe overwhelming majority of Kent Police officers demonstrate exceptional professionalism in their interactions with the public and their colleagues. When a serving officer falls below the standards expected of them, it is therefore incredibly disappointing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis investigation began when reports were received that former Dartford PC Benjamin Bayley-Cook made unwanted and inappropriate comments to a female colleague, and showed her an inappropriate photograph of himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was immediately placed onto restricted duties until his dismissal from the force on 26 March 2026 following the conclusion of a misconduct hearing which found his behaviour amounted to gross misconduct. He was also placed on the barred list.<\/p>\n
\u201cKent Police takes all reports, whether from the public or from within the organisation, very seriously. Victims, witnesses and the public in general should have confidence that the force will not hesitate to take action to ensure that standards of professional behaviour are maintained.\u201d<\/p>\n
The force did not confirm when the allegations were received.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Kent Police officer who said he \u201ccouldn\u2019t stop looking\u201d at the breasts of a domestic abuse victim…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[3843,59,3862,57,58,191,50,194,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-519111","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-dartford","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-gravesham","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-greatbritain","13":"tag-kent","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-syndicate","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}