Two West Mids cops who ‘had sexual relations’ with women they met on duty face misconduct trial in Birmingham

Two police officers in Birmingham were accused of taking advantage of vulnerable women while on duty, a court heard.

Steven Walters, 55, is accused of getting a victim of crime to give him oral sex while on the radio to force control because it “gave him a kick”. His colleague Anthony Ritchie, 46, then had sex with a grieving widow while wearing his police uniform, jurors were told.

Both men deny two charges of misconduct in a public office in relation to three women and went on trial today (Thursday, June 29) at Birmingham Crown Court.

Cathryn Orchard, prosecuting, said one woman had been the victim of both officers, who worked for West Midlands Police. She told the court how Walters first struck in October 2013 when he attended the home of a vulnerable woman while he was on duty.

Miss Orchard said: “Whilst there he made comments about her tattoos. He kissed her and then had her perform oral sex upon him. In relation to Ritchie he attended the same victim’s home address while on duty on June 5, 2014 due to a domestic incident. Following that incident, he instigated an inappropriate sexual relationship sufficient to constitute gross misconduct.”

In police interview, the woman said Walters had come to her home in Kingstanding, Birmingham, because of problems she was having with an ex-boyfriend.

Miss Orchard said: “He got her to perform oral sex on him whilst he was on the radio getting a log number.” She said the victim got the impression that “he must have got a kick out of that.”

Miss Orchard said Walters came back the following day and asked if she was OK but she did not allow him in the house. She said that Ritchie had come to the woman’s home to take a statement from her about her ex-boyfriend with another officer.

He then sent a text message to her while he was in the kitchen which she thought was “weird.” After that, it was alleged, Ritchie sent her text and Facebook messages as well as calling her and he then turned up at her front door with a coffee cup in his hand.

According to the woman they then began a sexual relationship with the officer having sex with her on at least five occasions. The woman said that Ritchie had been going through a divorce and that she had sex on one occasion at his home which he had been redecorating.

She said he had asked her to keep their relationship a secret and she had told him about what had happened with Walters but he did not seem interested. The court heard Ritchie also sent sexualised text messages to her.

Miss Orchard said Walters went to the home of another alleged victim in Erdington, Birmingham, on July 14, 2013 after a report of a domestic incident.

She said that while they were in a bathroom the woman had given him oral sex which had lasted between two to three minutes. She later described him as “A bit like a predator trying to take the p*ss out of my vulnerability.”

Miss Orchard said Ritchie had attended the home of the third victim on June 23, 2014 in order to arrest her son but he was not there. She told him she lived alone and that her husband had recently died and he commented that she had a nice house and then left.

She said the officer later phoned the woman to say that her son had handed himself in and afterwards begged her to let him come and see her. They then began a sexual relationship four weeks later and her son subsequently made a complaint about it to West Midlands Police, jurors were told.

Miss Orchard said: “He would come round to the house while on duty and try to have sex with her while on duty. On one occasion he did.”

The court heard the woman ended the relationship when she found a text revealing he was having a relationship with another woman. She also said she later found his Tinder page on which he said he was a police officer and which made him appear predatory.

Miss Orchard said an investigation began after other officers had gone to the home of the alleged first victim on April 17,2018 in relation to a separate matter. She told those officers she was “afraid and scared” of the police because of what had happened to her.

She said Ritchie had also previously been given “management advice” in relation to his contact with another woman, who had been the victim of an armed robbery, after obtaining her mobile phone number and texting her in 2016.

The court also heard Walters was previously convicted of two sexual assaults when while on duty he had touched a woman’s bare leg in a police car after offering her a lift home.

He also went to another woman’s home, after she had reported her son had run away, and kissed and then sexually assaulted her.

The trial continues.