A senior police chief who had a “wholly inappropriate” sexual relationship with a young probationary officer caused reputational harm to West Yorkshire Police and undermined public confidence in the force, a misconduct hearing has ruled.

Former Chief Superintendent Daniel Greenwood, 41, who admitted gross misconduct and resigned on Monday, was a rising star in the force who was made district commander for Bradford in January 2021.

But, at the time of his appointment, he was already embroiled in a relationship with a 20-year-old probationary officer – known as Miss A – that escalated when he had sex with her around the time of her 21st birthday that month.

They had sex again in July of that year and exchanged sexual messages and nude pictures.

Chair of the misconduct hearing, Craig Hassall KC, said: “In our judgment the seriousness of the gross misconduct admitted and found proven here is such that nothing less than dismissal would have been sufficient to maintain public confidence in West Yorkshire Police and the policing profession more generally.

“We therefore declare that the former officer would have been dismissed if he had not already ceased to be a member of the police force when he tendered his resignation two days ago.”

Former Chief Superintendent Greenwood will be placed on the police barred list.

In a scathing ruling Mr Greenwood was found to have breached Covid regulations by meeting Miss A at her flat for sex. At the time he was the officer responsible for West Yorkshire Police’s Covid response. 

Mr Hassall added: “There was and there remains widespread public revulsion towards breaches of the coronavirus regulations by those in positions of trust and responsibility whilst the vast majority of the public were doing their best to follow the rules, often at grievous personal cost: saying final goodbyes to dying relatives remotely rather than face-to-face [and] attending funerals by video conference.

“We are satisfied that that particular aspect of this former officer’s discreditable conduct had the greatest capacity to undermine public confidence in policing.”

The panel considered Miss A, who had had previous mental health problems, to be a vulnerable person and that Mr Greenwood’s conduct was an abuse of his position for a sexual purpose.

He was also said to have suffered from complex PTSD and some mental ill health but that it had not affected his ability to cope as a senior officer.

Commenting on the hearing, West Yorkshire Police’s Deputy Chief Constable Catherine Hankinson said: “Daniel Greenwood took full advantage of his senior position to pursue a wholly inappropriate relationship with a student officer.

“He behaved in a manner which brings discredit on the police service, goes against our values, and undermines public trust and confidence.

“The public deserves police officers who hold the highest standards, and his actions do not represent the overwhelming majority of honest and hardworking police officers and staff in West Yorkshire.

“I hope people feel reassured that all allegations of discreditable conduct will be robustly investigated, and such behaviour has no place in our service.”