A Bucks police officer asked two female students to have sex with him “to make things go away” when he accused them of breaching COVID-19 lockdown rules.

Former police constable Mark Gibson was found to have acted inappropriately towards two women when he visited an address on February 7.

At a police misconduct hearing held last week, the panel heard how former PC Gibson asked the 19 and 20-year-old women if they “had any sex toys”, threatened to end their studies by reporting them, and suggested they have sex with him to make things “go away.”

Gibson, who resigned as a police officer in June, was found to have committed gross misconduct at the hearing, which he did not attend.

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Had he still been a police officer, he would have been relieved of his duties.

Former PC Gibson had served as a police officer in Milton Keynes before he resigned from the force.

The police misconduct hearing was held on Wednesday 13 October and Thursday 14 October at the Thames Valley Police HQ in Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

The hearing, which was overseen by legally qualified chair Jane Jones, heard how in February, when COVID-19 lockdown restrictions were still in place, former PC Gibson was sent to an address in Moreton to investigate a potential breach of lockdown restrictions that was reported by a member of the public.

At the address former PC Gibson found the two young women, known as AB and CD to protect their identities. AB was a resident of the property, and CD was visiting – the pair were in a support bubble together.

The panel heard how former PC Gibson asked the two women if they were sleeping together in a “pointed and intrusive” way, and asked them if they had any sex toys.

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When he undertook a search of the property, he took underwear belonging to one of the two students out of an overnight bag, and “fiddled” with a packet of condoms in the drawer of the bedside table.

The officer threatened the students that they would be removed from their university course if he reported them, even though they were in a support bubble and had therefore not breached the COVID-19 restrictions.

Former PC Gibson had previously claimed that the two students “offered him sex”, but the panel found that he was the one who suggested the two women either pay him a bribe or have sex with him.

The panel also found that he said to the students “whatever happens in these four walls stays within these four walls”, or something to that effect.

While he was at the property, he seized a small amount of cannabis and a cannabis grinder. He told the panel he washed the drugs down the sink, which was not in line with standard police practice.

In its report on the hearing, the panel stated that it was “a matter of regret” that former PC Gibson did not turn on his body-worn camera during his two-hour visit to the property.

Three weeks after this encounter, he went back to the same property when there was “no good reason” to do so.

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The panel concluded that former PC Gibson had “abused his position for a sexual purpose.”

The report from the hearing stated: “The two young women were not treated with respect and courtesy. They were asked about sensitive and private matters which were not relevant to the reason the officer was present.

“Their personal items were handled in an unnecessary way and sexual matters were both spoken about and hinted at in a manner which was wholly unnecessary and embarrassing for the students.

“The suggestion that a financial bribe or sexual favours might affect the preferred course of action was also implicitly insulting to the integrity of the young women.

“The totality of the conduct does constitute discreditable conduct. It was obvious that the students were acutely upset and concerned about the conduct, and the second lone visit only compounded this.

“Such conduct, especially in a time of national lockdown, with the fears and sensitivities that were uppermost at that time must bring discredit upon the police service and undermine public confidence in it.”

At the end of the hearing, the panel found that former PC Gibson’s behaviour amounted to gross misconduct, meaning he would have been relieved of his duties as a police officer had he not already resigned.

Former PC Gibson has also been added to the College of Policing barred list, meaning he will not be able to serve on any other police force in the future.

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