A Merseyside Police sergeant who forced a prostitute to perform a sex act or face arrest was jailed for 30 months.
David Gibson, 44, was found guilty of wilful misconduct in a public office after a five-day trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
The married dad-of-four, of Kirkman Fold, Rainhill, told the woman he would arrest or fine her unless she did something for him to be “the nice man” and let her go.
The victim, who cannot be named, was withdrawing from heroin and alcohol at the time, and made to sell her body by an abusive ex-partner.
Judge Clement Goldstone, QC, said Gibson had “played for very, very high stakes,” adding “it was an overwhelming case”.
‘You pressed your own self-destruct button’
He said: “For half your life you served Merseyside Police with distinction. You had real prospects of promotion.
Then in the early hours of November 6, 2014, you pressed your own self-destruct button. I see you nodding. It’s a pity you didn’t nod earlier.
“You toyed with and preyed on her obvious vulnerability.”
The jury heard Gibson “grossly abused” his position by taking advantage of her “for his own sexual gratification”.
Gibson slipped out of Eaton Road police station, in West Derby, during a night shift without making a log of where he was going or telling any of his colleagues.
CCTV footage showed him driving an unmarked Ford Focus around the Sheil Road area, before pulling up and allowing the 30-year-old woman to get into the car.
The pair drove to a more secluded location, where the woman claimed Gibson “was a bit rough” and refused to wear a condom.
He then told her she was “getting nothing” because he had “got her off from being nicked.”
*Read more: Top cop slams sergeant who forced prostitute into sex act
Gibson was caught after a volunteer from the charity Streetwise overheard her saying she “had to do some business for a policeman.”
Forensic experts found his semen on the passenger seat of the vehicle, and later saliva from the woman.
When arrested Gibson claimed he would not “touch a sex worker with a barge pole” because “a lot of them carry disease” and said he had been trying to gather intelligence about drug dealing.
When confronted with the forensic evidence, he suggested he had masturbated in the vehicle before meeting the woman, and may have stained the seat.
He told the jury he had been suffering from the skin condition psoriasis, and was rubbing his groin area, which led to him becoming aroused.
He claimed it was the first time in 22 years as a police officer that he had pleasured himself while on active duty.
Prosecutors dismissed his defence as “implausible” and told the jury: “For this defendant to be telling the truth he would have to be regarded as one of the unluckiest men that ever lived.
“You would have to entertain a series of the most extraordinary coincidences.”
In a bizarre exchange, Gibson also claimed an officer receiving a sex act would not be “abandoning his duties” as long as he was “ready to respond.”
The victim told the court the offence made her feel “sick and dirty” and she has suffered flashbacks.
Victim ‘now feels unable to trust the police service’
Maria Masselis, prosecuting, said: “Understandably she now feels unable to trust the police service.”
Nicholas Clarke, QC, defending, said his client had served the people of Liverpool, been a parent governor at a school and coached a children’s rugby team.
He accepted he had committed a “serious breach of trust” and brought shame upon himself.
Judge Goldstone said: “He will lose his job, he will lose his salary and he is likely to lose his pension.”
The judge said the victim felt she was blackmailed by Gibson “who had of course no intention of paying for her services”.
He said: “In truth your conduct was as close to blackmail as it could have been.
“No wonder she felt so humiliated and degraded. No wonder it destroyed her faith and trust in the police.
“Never in a million years did it occur to you that she would have the courage to complain about what you had done and report it to the police.
“As the web closed in on you, you tried to lie your way out of the compelling and unanswerable forensic evidence which tied you to the crime.”
The judge said Gibson had shown no remorse for his crime and prison was “no more than you deserve”.
He said: “The public must be confident in the knowledge that severe punishment will be meted out on those police officers who betray the trust reposed in them.
“By your conduct you have brought shame on your wife, on your family and on yourself.
“You have brought shame on the police in general and Merseyside Police in particular, whose job is difficult enough without having to deal with the fallout of an offence such as yours, which does untold harm to confidence and trust in the police.”
Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/