EXCLUSIVE ‘Predatory’ police officer, 39, who sent a naked selfie to the victim of a sex assault and told her he wanted to handcuff her to a bed after she reported the crime to him is sacked for gross misconduct
- Sergeant Rob Adams had an anonymity order protecting him from identification
- He was found guilty of ‘persistent predatory behaviour’ with ‘malign intent’
- The victim said she did not report it at the time as she was scared and worried
- Adams had also stuck a photo of a colleague’s face on to a pornographic picture
A police officer has been sacked after he sent a full-length naked selfie to the victim of a sex assault and told her he wanted to handcuff her to a bed.
As the victim reported the sex assault the officer also confessed he was so aroused by her short skirt he would have sexually assaulted her himself.
Now Sergeant Rob Adams, 39, a divorced father-of-two with 16 years service, can finally be identified after an anonymity order preventing him being named or pictured was lifted.
The officer was hauled before a disciplinary panel on charges of gross misconduct where he was found guilty of ‘persistent predatory behaviour’ with ‘malign intent’.
Sergeant Rob Adams (pictured) has been found guilty of ‘persistent predatory behaviour’ with ‘malign intent’ after telling a sexual assault victim he wanted to handcuff her to his bed
But an order preventing the media from naming him was imposed last month by the independent chair of the disciplinary panel, Harry Ireland. The order was opposed by the media who were supported by Sussex Police.
It led to fury from rape and sexual abuse charities who accused the panel of prioritising the reputation of an officer over the safety of women and girls.
Now it can also be revealed that in 2017 Sergeant Adams sent a female police community support officer (PCSO) a full-length naked selfie of himself and conducted an inappropriate relationship with her.
And in 2020 the officer was handed a final written warning after he stuck a photo of a female colleague’s face on to a pornographic picture and sent it as a Secret Santa gift.
He has been banned from ever serving as a police officer again after the latest case against him was proven.
The hearing was told the alleged incident happened in March 2014 when the woman – known as Miss A – and her two sisters were enjoying a night out in Hastings, East Sussex.
They were drinking in Yates bar when Miss A was groped by a man who put his hand up her skirt.
The man was evicted from the bar and the victim reported the attack to Sergeant Adams, who was on patrol in the town centre that night. The man was arrested and taken to Hastings police station.
But as the victim sat in his patrol car to give an official police statement Sergeant Adams, who was married with a baby at the time, began making inappropriate comments to her.
Sgt Adams, who has been banned from serving as a police officer again, had his identity revealed after a controversial anonymity order was lifted
Miss A told the hearing: ‘He said he was getting aroused when I told him about my encounter with that guy in the bar.
‘He asked if I liked him. It was just weird. He was creepy. I was shocked. He was a police officer in uniform.’
Culture of sex at Hasting’s police station
Detective Constable Damien Cotgreave from Hastings station was sacked after sending hundreds of obscene and graphic text messages to the women while on duty.
He bunked off work for two hours to visit one woman at her home and gave her an intimate back massage and sent pornographic selfies of himself to other women taken while he was on duty.
In one incident he took a lewd photo of himself in a crown court toilet while he was attending a drugs trial.
In December 2020 Sergeant Rob Adams of Hastings Station was handed a final written warning for sticking a photo of a female officer onto a pornographic image of a naked model.
In the same month Detective Sergeant Paul Elrick also from Hastings Station received a final written warning for pinging a ruler across the bottom of a female colleague and sending her obscene messages.
In 2016 PC Daniel Moss of also of Hastings station was sacked after advertising himself as a male prostitute while off sick from work.
The force said he was moonlighting as a male escort on an adult website after reporting off sick with a stress-related illness. He was sacked for gross misconduct and later took his own life.
In 2015 Inspector Lee Lyons, of Hasting station, was sacked after he admitted contacting prostitutes for sex, even arranging a location and fee for one woman, ‘Natalie’, services for after his shift ended.
Chief Superintendent Tanya Jones said work to weed out sex pests on the force was taken very seriously.
‘When there are officers and staff who behave in a way the force deems to be inappropriate, rest assured that action is taken.’
The victim said: ‘Then the officer said he wanted to use his handcuffs on me, to take me home and handcuff me to my bed.’
She said she thought she was reporting a sexual assault to someone she could ‘trust’ and was meant to ‘protect’ her.
She said: ‘I don’t even remember how it ended but I think I tried to laugh it off because it was an awkward situation really.’
The victim told the hearing that just hours later she received a naked selfie from the same officer.
She said: ‘The following morning I had a picture message on my phone of the sergeant naked. It showed him naked in a full-length mirror.
‘I was a bit shocked. My sister said: “You need to report it” but he was a police officer.’
The victim said she didn’t report the officer because he was a serving officer and ‘a man of power’.
Months later she bumped into the officer again in court when the sex offender went on trial and was convicted for the sexual assault against her.
The hearing was told the victim did not report her dealings with the sergeant because she had deleted evidence from her phone, including the naked selfie and the flirtatious comments.
She also told the hearing she was scared and worried about making a formal complaint against a serving officer.
Miss A only reported the incident after the officer’s name cropped up press reports about the written warning he received for his behaviour in 2020.
Harry Ireland, chair of the disciplinary panel, said Sergeant Adams was guilty of ‘deliberate, persistent predatory behaviour’ with ‘malign intent’.
He said the panel was left with no choice but to dismiss the officer with immediate effect and ban him from ever serving in a police force again.
Sussex Police has been plagued by series of sex pest scandal and was forced to launch an probe into the behaviour of male officers.
Hastings police station was branded the ‘the most sexist station in Britain’ after a wave of pervert PCs were hauled before disciplinary hearings.
As well as conducting affairs with each other while on duty and viewing and exchanging pornographic pictures, officers also moonlighted as prostitutes, had sex with prostitutes while on duty and sent pornographic selfies to members of the public.
Some officers have been sacked from the force while others have been handed final written warnings.
Sources say a major crackdown on ‘lad culture’ at the Hastings station was launched after complaints by several female officers and members of the public.
Whatsapp and Facebook groups used to exchange explicit sexual messages and images have been shut down, rowdy behaviour has been banned and officers have been sent for retraining.
Chief Superintendent Lisa Bell from the Professional Standards Department said: ‘Police officers must behave in a manner that does not discredit the police service or undermine public confidence, whether on or off duty.
‘All staff are aware of appropriate professional boundaries and the serious consequences of any abuses of position.
‘The victim in this case came forward to report a sexual assault and should have received a professional and compassionate response. Instead, she was met with seriously inappropriate and unprofessional comments.
‘The decision to dismiss this officer is fully supported as there can be no place in the service for those that make sexual advances to any member of the public.’
Sergeant Adams was based at Eastbourne at the time of the incident but later transferred to Hastings.
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