Pc Declan Gabriel, 27, is accused of raping the teenager and carrying out two other sexual assaults on a female on September 21 last year
A police officer once branded ‘a true hero’ has been sacked for gross misconduct – after he took a vulnerable 17-year-old girl to a lay-by and unzipped his trousers.
PC Declan Gabriel, 28, was found not guilty of rape and two counts of sexual assault during a trial in February this year.
He attended a domestic incident in Northampton in the early hours of September 2015 involving a vulnerable 17-year-old girl and her mother.
Instead of taking the teenager to a place of safety, he asked her about her relationship with her boyfriend before driving past the house he was supposed to be taking her to.
He then drove to a secluded lay-by where he proceeded to unzip his trousers and put his hands inside them claiming that he needed to re-adjust his underwear.
PC Gabriel stated during his trial that the teenager then touched him inappropriately.
Seven months before the incident, he was branded a ‘true hero’ by the mother of a 12-month old daughter whose life he saved.
He had rushed over to a woman in distress at a crime scene, where the child was having problems breathing.
He performed first aid before speeding the baby to Northampton General Hospital where doctors told him his actions had most likely saved the baby’s life.
PC Gabriel was recommended for a commendation for his actions.
PC Gabriel, who was hailed a hero when he saved a 12-month-old baby’s life, was subject to a fast track misconduct hearing yesterday but failed to appear. He is pictured leaving Northampton Crown Court where he was found not guilty of rape and sexual assault
The girl’s mother, Rachel, said on Facebook: ‘Thank you, Declan, for saving my daughter’s life.
‘I’ll always be truly grateful. You’re a true hero.’
PC Gabriel was subject to a fast track misconduct hearing yesterday morning but failed to appear.
He was dismissed without notice.
The Northamptonshire Police officer (pictured, the constaublary’s headquarters) is also charged with misconduct in a public office on the same date
PC Gabriel failed to report the incident, or request another officer join him to take the teenager on to the place of safety.
He also failed to note the incident in his pocket notebook or on forms he filled in about the domestic incident involving the teenager.
Chief Constable Simon Edens, from Northamptonshire Police, said: ‘Police officers are required to be honest and act with integrity at all times.
‘They must not compromise or abuse their position.
‘PC Gabriel, like most police officers, would have operated on trust and therefore would not have needed nor received close supervision.
‘He had a significant amount of power and authority, particularly in relation to a teenage girl who was temporarily in his care.
‘He has breached that trust and exploited that power and authority.
PC Gabriel’s name will be added to a register that will bar him from being employed by any police force in the country
‘The gravity of the breaches and the circumstances in which PC Gabriel committed them leave me in no doubt that he has committed gross misconduct, conduct so serious that it justifies dismissal.
‘He was entrusted to act in the best interests of a vulnerable teenage girl but he failed to do that.
‘Northamptonshire Police has daily contact with some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.
‘Nobody should ever have any concerns about the way they will be treated by officers and staff when they deal with them.
‘Nor should they fear that anyone from Northamptonshire Police might want to exploit them.
‘I am proud to lead a force which is made up of men and women who operate professionally and ethically, with mercifully few exceptions.
‘PC Gabriel has grossly breached the trust placed in him by the force, the community, and by the young girl and her family.
‘Without that trust, he is unable to operate as a police officer.
‘There is no place for him in this force or in policing as a whole and I therefore dismiss him from the police service without notice.
‘His name will be placed on a College of Policing register so he cannot be employed by any police force in the country.’