Lanarkshire 2021-11-09

David Taylor 39

Married Police Scotland officer who hounded vulnerable women with sex texts and naked selfies.

Profile Picture
Offender ID: O-1584

Locations

East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, G74-75

Description

A police officer targeted crime victims with sex texts and naked selfies after investigating cases.

David Taylor bombarded two women who reported domestic abuse and a female who'd been sexually assaulted with filth.

The 37-year-old also boasted how he wanted to use his handcuffs on one of the women and act out a scene from Fifty Shades of Grey.

The Police Constable made contact with his first victim just an hour after he had dealt with her complaint.

He started inundating her with indecent messages, pictures and videos.

Taylor told the sex attack victim how he wanted to arrest her, cuff her to a bed and have sex with her.

And he sent naked photos and videos of himself in the shower to a woman whose ex had threatened to kidnap her daughter.

Now he has now been placed on the Sex Offenders' Register and warned he could be jailed over the breach of trust after a police probe into his conduct.

The details emerged yesterday when Taylor appeared in the dock at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court.

He pled guilty to four of the 13 charges he faced at the pre-trial hearing, admitting targeting three vulnerable women between 2011 and 2018.

Taylor admitted sending indecent images to a sex assault victim and then stalking her, communicating indecently with a domestic abuse victim, and sending indecent images to another domestic abuse survivor.

Prosecutor Peter Moyes said Taylor's first victim, who was 39 at the time in 2011, contacted police due to an issue between her and her ex husband.

Taylor advised her that it was a civil matter and gave her advice.

But just an hour later he began texting her, sending her "flirty" and "sexually explicit" messages.

The court heard she replied in a "non-flirty" way as she does not like confrontation.

The woman stopped replying and deleted his number from her phone.

But the messages came to light in 2019 as part of a probe into Taylor's crimes.

Taylor targeted his second victim after she was sexually assaulted in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, in 2016.

The court heard Taylor was assigned as the Reporting Officer in the case of the young woman, who was just 20.

In 2017, he contacted her through Snapchat and identified himself to her as "PC David Taylor".

He sent her messages about her court case and told her how he wanted to protect her.

Over the course of three months he sent her topless photos of himself, told her she looked beautiful when he attended her home while working on her case, and sent her sexual messages.

He also sent her messages captioned "wish you were here".

He also viewed her Snapchat story and then messaged her about where she was because her location was displayed, causing her to turn off the setting on her account.

Mr Moyes added: "He referred to arresting her, cuffing her to the bed and having sex with her.

"He would also refer to Fifty Shades of Grey. He sent her naked pictures of him.

"She deleted him. She felt it was disgusting and that she should not be contacted in that way.

"She felt the accused was in a position of authority over her and was scared to block him.

"She never explicitly told the accused to stop contacting her."

His last victim went to Kilmarnock police office to report her ex for threatening to kidnap her daughter.

Taylor began texting her and she suspected it was her ex pretending to be a police officer.

He sent her a picture of his face, then continued to send her messages, calling her "gorgeous".

Taylor also sent her a number of naked pictures and videos of himself in the shower.

The inquiry into Taylor started when the woman was arrested for an offence and her lawyer told prosecutors about the messages.

She was advised to contact police and officers began to investigate Taylor, of Glasgow.

Sheriff Alistair Watson warned Taylor to prepare himself for a jail term as he adjourned the case until next month for background reports to be prepared.

Chief Superintendent Andrew McDowall from Police Scotland's Professional Standards Department said: "The conduct of David Taylor was appalling. He breached the trust of the female victims he engaged with, and the trust of the wider public.

"I thank the victims for bravely reporting his deplorable actions, allowing officers to make an arrest and protect other women from this behaviour.

"We will respond to all reports of sexual crime irrespective of who the offender is. We will carry out detailed and thorough investigations and will be responsive to the needs of each victim.

"David Taylor was immediately suspended from duty once the circumstances came to light and had no further interaction with the public as a police officer.

"Had he remained a serving officer, he would have been reported to the Assistant Chief Constable, Professionalism and Assurance, to progress gross misconduct proceedings, the outcome of which can include dismissal without notice."

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