A senior detective responsible for violent sex cases struck up sexual relationships with junior police staff after bragging he was a ‘bad ass’ and could be their ‘sugar daddy’, a misconduct panel heard today.
DCI Roger Wood is accused of ‘exploiting’ two junior police staff for sex after he boasted to them about his ‘rank, importance and power’.
The married detective told one young staff member he had ‘solved all the stranger rapes’ in the area, a misconduct hearing was told.
And after having sex with one woman at her home, he is alleged to have told the her ‘now you’ve had the DCI’.
DCI Wood, of Hampshire Constabulary, also asked a staff member to knit him socks with ‘world’s best detective’ written on them.
He has now been hauled before a Hampshire Constabulary misconduct hearing.
DCI Wood faces two charges of gross misconduct for engaging in inappropriate emotional relationships with two woman named only as Ms A and Ms B.
He also faces a charge of excessive communications with Ms B.
DCI Wood had been a police officer for 16 years when he resigned in February last year, and was ‘nationally recognised’ for his work on sexual offences investigations and against online predators.
He met the trainee police staff investigator Ms A at a domestic abuse conference and they ‘flirted’ with each other.
They met again the day after the domestic violence training, in March 2023, at a police station in Basingstoke, Hants, and DCI Wood joked he was ‘stalking’ Ms A and told her the case he was investigating was ‘only a murder when I say it is’.
After their interaction Ms A messaged DCI Wood on LinkedIn and a ‘large number of flirtatious messages’ were exchanged including naked photos from Ms A, counsel for Hampshire Police Jason Beer KC told the hearing.
The senior officer responded to one of the nude images by offering to be Ms A’s ‘sugar daddy’ if they were together and suggesting they ‘make their own’ naked pictures when they met up.
The misconduct hearing heard that the experienced DCI, who ‘understood the nuances of vulnerabilities’, had been warned by three other colleagues that Ms A was vulnerable and struggling at work.
A few days later he drove to her home in Oxfordshire and the pair had sex after the DCI discussed his unhappy marriage. After having sex, the senior officer said ‘now you’ve had the DCI’.
The hearing, held at Hampshire Police HQ in Eastleigh, Hants, was told Ms A was at her ‘lowest’ when she met DCI Wood and on medication for anxiety and depression following a relationship breakdown.
He denies any breach of conduct and says he went to Ms A’s house to tell her he did not want to have a relationship with her.
Between May 2022 and April 2023 DCI Wood was a senior advisor to the Police and Crime Commissioner and he met a young staff member, referred to only as Ms B, in August 2022.
Their relationship developed through MS Teams messages with an ‘excessive’ 9,965 messages exchanged between the pair over the course of eight months.
In their texts, before they had a sexual encounter, Ms B told the senior officer she had ADHD, ‘crippling anxiety, and had been bullied in her previous job’.
DCI Wood regularly bragged about his ‘rank, importance and power’, asking Ms B to knit him socks with ‘world’s best detective’ on, said ‘I am the SIO [Senior Investigating Officer] everyone wants’ and said he was ‘too important’ to attend a violence against women and girls meeting, Mr Beer KC said.
He told Ms B he was a ‘bad ass’, it was heard.
Setting out the charges, Mr Beer KC said DCI Wood had dealt with ‘many’ investigations concerning vulnerable women.
Mr Beer said: ‘In March 2023 you met the trainee staff investigator at a domestic abuse training event, at that time you were a person of upper-mid level seniority.
‘You had run the Amberstone team, dealing with many investigations with vulnerable women.
‘Person A was at the other end of the spectrum of seniority, you engaged in flirtatious conduct…
‘On LinkedIn a number of flirtatious messages were exchanged including Person A sending photos of her naked body, you said you would be her sugar daddy.
‘You drove to Person A’s house in Oxfordshire and had sexual intercourse, you said words to the effect ‘you’ve now had the DCI’.’
He continued: ‘Person B began working in the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, you encouraged and engaged in an inappropriate romantic and sexual relationship.
‘You engaged in excessive communications with her, 9,965 messages.’
In statements read by Mr Beer both Ms A and Ms B said they felt ‘taken advantage of’ and ‘used’ by DCI Wood.
Ms A said: ‘Whilst I accept I am a grown adult and consented to intercourse with him, on reflection I feel he took advantage of me.
‘He used me. He got what he wanted, sex, and just dumped me afterwards. I stayed on this low until I finally made the decision to leave Hampshire Police.
‘The thought of bumping into him, or wondering who knew about events kept me in a constant feeling of anxiety. This only ended on resigning.’
Ms B said: ‘I was very vulnerable at this time and I feel this was very clear to Wood.
‘Whilst at the time I felt he was very supportive of me I now feel that he could have been using me to his advantage to develop things between us.
‘It makes me now feel quite used by him… I can now see that there was a power imbalance between myself and Wood.
‘I did not feel this at the time but feel it is clear now. This angers me.’
The hearing continues.