A disgraced police officer who kissed and groped a vulnerable domestic abuse victim and ‘groomed’ others has been jailed for two years after being found guilty of misconduct in public office.
A jury of five men and seven women took less than three hours to unanimously convict PC Ihsan Ali on four counts of misconduct in public office in relation to four women after a seven-day trial at Preston Crown Court.
Judge Mark Brown, the Honorary Recorder of Preston, told Ali that his 'campaign of grooming and manipulative conduct for a sexual purpose' had damaged the reputation of Lancashire Police and undermined the public's trust in it.
Ali, who worked as an immediate response officer in Blackburn and Burnley until his arrest and subsequent suspension last year, will now face internal disciplinary proceedings later this year.
During the trial the jury was told how 40-year-old Ali initially went to the homes of his four female victims to legitimately investigate complaints they had made about being the victims of crime.
But in each case Ali gave the complainants his personal mobile phone number and began sending them inappropriate texts with the intention of developing ‘emotional or sexual relationships’.
Prosecuting, Sarah Johnston said Ali sent his victims photographs of himself in a swimming pool, told one he wanted to be her bodyguard and told another he was looking for a new wife and she would make a good one.
The court heard how Ali went to the first complainant’s house in Burnley in May 2016 in relation to threats she had received from a former work colleague.
Ms Johnston said Ali texted the woman with updates on her case for around a week after the initial visit.
But the prosecutor said Ali continued to message her on WhatsApp from his personal mobile until November 2016, which the victim thought was ‘strange’ and showed he was ‘after something more’.
The court heard that in October 2016 Ali went to the home of an older woman in Whitworth who had made a complaint against her ex-partner.
After exchanging hundreds of text messages with the woman off his personal mobile phone, Ali went to the complainant’s house.
After sharing a mutual kiss, Ali is said to have groped the woman and made sexually suggestive comments.
When the woman asked him to leave Ali kissed her again.
