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A former Humberside Police officer who had sex with a troubled woman in a clear breach of trust has been jailed for two years and four months.
Ex-PC Simon Miller was supposed to be helping her as part of his duties but he "completely abused his position of trust" by having a sexual relationship with the "vulnerable" woman. He sent her a message that allegedly warned her that nobody would believe her if she told anyone about what had happened, Hull Crown Court heard.
Miller, 54, earlier admitted engaging in a sexual relationship with a victim, knowing that this was improper.
He had been immediately dismissed last year after a misconduct hearing was held into his "unforgivable" behaviour. He met the woman while he was on duty during an incident.
Defence barrister Alex Menary told an earlier hearing that messages were sent to the woman, some of them from Miller's phone and some from Snapchat, and there were pages of records about these and the woman's responses.
The woman had made screenshots of some of the messages. Mr Menary said that Miller went to check on the woman and took her back to a refuge. They had sex that day.
Miller, of Scunthorpre, arrived in a marked police car to pick her up. They went back to the refuge and she and Miller were there between 2 and 3pm.
"In that time, sexual intercourse took place," said Mr Menary. There was later a message to Miller from the woman to say "Thank you." He replied: "No worries."
The woman sent a message to him at 4.37pm saying: "Thanks." Miller sent her a message later that day. Mr Menary told the court that the woman was claiming that "he was saying that, if you tell anyone, they won't believe you because you are in a mental asylum."
She said: "I wasn't in the best place at the time. My mental health wasn't in the best scenario at the time."
Mr Menary said that it would be "quite a hurtful thing to hear" and the woman said that it was really upsetting. "I had just been through an extremely difficult time," she said. "To hear that was quite upsetting. I wasn't in the right frame of mind."
Mr Menary said that the woman later sent what seemed to be "very affectionate" messages to Miller but she replied: "The amount of medication I was on, I wasn't thinking straight. It's very difficult for me to recollect many of the messages."
She insisted that she was "really hurt" by the asylum message. Mr Menary asked whether she was pursuing a relationship with Miller and claimed that she had asked him: "Can't I have you?" but he had replied: "No, you can't."
Mr Menary claimed that the woman told Miller in a message: "So you f*** me once and that's it." Mr Menary asked the woman if she accepted that she was wanting more contact with Miller but she denied that. "I wasn't seeking a relationship," she claimed.
She admitted a prosecution claim that she was "kind" and "a little bit flirty" to Miller in later messages. "I believe so," she said.
A Humberside Police spokesman said previously: "Criminal and internal investigations were launched into the actions of former PC Simon Miller after a report was received of inappropriate conduct and behaviour. "Miller, based in Scunthorpe, engaged in a sexual relationship with a vulnerable victim after meeting her while on duty at an incident in 2021.
"After the internal investigation, an accelerated misconduct hearing took place in August last year, in private so as not to jeopardise the ongoing criminal investigation. The misconduct panel found that he had breached the standards of professional behaviour in relation to discreditable conduct and he was immediately dismissed and placed on the College of Policing barred list."
Head of professional standards Superintendent Andy Maultby said at the time: "Miller has completely abused his position of trust and took advantage of someone when she was in need of support. His discreditable conduct and behaviour didn't just breach the standards of professionalism, it was utterly condemnable and unforgivable.
"I want to praise the lady for her courage in speaking out. It has enabled us to ensure he has been criminally prosecuted, removed from our police force and placed on the College of Policing barred list.
"We will not condone or accept any form of abuse of position within Humberside Police and we will always take action and hold those responsible to account.
"We are committed to rooting out those who should never have embarked on a police career and who cause the communities we serve to doubt our integrity and professionalism. Our communities deserve the highest quality service and should feel they can have confidence in policing and we will do all we can to deliver this."