Guilty of gross misconduct: Newbury police officer PC Daniel Burford, who botched child sex abuse probe

A NEWBURY police officer has been found guilty of gross misconduct for botching an historic child sex abuse case.

A Thames Valley Police hearing found PC Daniel Burford had been either idle or incompetent and that his “egregious failure” had retraumatised the complainant.

Misconduct panel members ruled the officer had “decided from the very start of this ‘investigation’ that it was not going to result in any positive action and therefore would only receive the bare minimum of effort”.

They added: “Had a prosecution ensued, the case would have been jeopardised by his cavalier attitude to handling of evidence.”

In February 2022 the complainant, identified only as ‘S’, made an allegation of historic child sexual abuse to Thames Valley Police.

It was handed to PC Burford to investigate.

But, the panel determined, he failed to read crucial documents and “failed to provide … any explanation for such an egregious failure”.

In fact, the panel ruled, there were “clear areas” of potential further enquiries.

They concluded: “Undoubtedly, S has been very badly let down by [PC Burford] and she deserved a much more respectful and diligent attitude from [him] and a level of competence and commitment to the investigation which was singularly lacking.

“We find it intolerable that [PC Burford], whether it be because of idleness or incompetence, added to her trauma.”

It had also been alleged that S had told PC Burford of another child who had been preyed upon by the same suspect, but that the officer had dishonestly covered this up.

This allegation was found not proved by the panel.

However, an allegation that PC Burford, having been told that the suspect planned to become a teacher, had failed to seek advice or to contact the school concerned, was partially upheld.

The panel stated: “We accepted…that it was an unrealistic expectation for [PC Burford] to be aware of the [local authority designated officer] role, and to expect him to contact the school.

“However, he did accept that he should have sought advice from, for example … a supervisor.

“To this extent, we found the allegation proven.”

The panel said “some early admissions and an acceptance of his poor investigation,” coupled with PC Burford’s remorse and willingness to learn from mistakes, were mitigating factors.

They nevertheless labelled his culpability “very high” for “deliberately ignoring key evidence and failing to undertake even the basic steps for a proper investigation.

The panel added: “The outcome of his inaction was entirely foreseeable.

“There would undoubtedly be reputational damage to the police if the facts were known, especially considering national concerns as to how the police investigate allegations of sexual assault and the treatment of females.”

The panel found PC Burford guilty of gross misconduct and ruled that a “final written warning” be placed on his record for the next three years.