A police sergeant who made jokes about rape and hurled abuse at women will continue to serve as an officer.

Officer D, an ex-sergeant who Norfolk Police has chosen not to name, sat before a misconduct panel and was handed a reduction in rank after making multiple inappropriate comments to women, including colleagues and members of the public.

He was flagged for a number of incidents which took place from December 1, 2022, to April 13, 2024, in Lynn.

The first of these saw Officer D deny that he acted inappropriately when he said a female colleague “waltzed around the office like a peacock” and labelled her “facetious” before saying she should look the word up if she did not know what it meant.

The colleague described it as a “character assassination” and said it left her feeling “numb”.

Months later, on March 2, 2023, at Lynn Police Station, Officer D, in relation to the Sarah Everard murder case, said words along the lines of: “Well if they paid us more we wouldn’t have to rape and murder women or kill prostitutes after we f****d them”.

A witness believes it was “made in jest”, and the panel agreed it “did not represent the true beliefs of Officer D”. However, it was deemed at “highly inappropriate” given the high profile of the case and amounted to gross misconduct.

The next week, on March 9, Officer D repeatedly made “offensive, derogatory and demeaning” comments towards a drunk woman who had been involved in a domestic dispute.

He was caught on a colleague’s body camera mocking the woman’s accent, saying: “Sit in the car right, you can get out when you’re grown up.”

The woman then kicked out at the ex-sergeant, and he said: “What a f***ing silly little girl.”

Other comments included, “What sort of a mother are you?”, “You horrible girl”, “You are vile, aren’t you?”, “You’re absolutely disgusting”, and, “You foul creature”.

Officer D accepted that mocking her accent was inappropriate but denied that the comment breached any standards.

On March 12, 2023, the ex-sergeant was on patrol on Norfolk Street in Lynn when he made discriminatory comments about a group of women while he was in a car, calling one a “fat slut”.

Again, he denied the allegations – but a colleague who witnessed the incident said she heard it clearly.

On April 2, 2023, Officer D made a sexually inappropriate statement to another female colleague after she choked while drinking water.

The woman said, “Sorry, it’s gone down the wrong hole”, to which Officer D replied: “It’s not the first time she’s said that.”

The last of the incidents took place on April 13, 2024, while Office D was working a late shift in Lynn.

He was heard saying to a number of colleagues, “Shall we go and see what horny ladies we can find”, and later said about some women seen fighting on CCTV: “It’s just some slags having a punch up.”

Officer D claimed he made the first comment in response to another officer who was talking about a “Dreamboys” event which was taking place in town that night.

He denied making the latter comment, and claimed it was men who were fighting, not women – but the incident log recorded both women and men being involved in the altercation.

The panel determined that all of these allegations amounted to gross misconduct and highlighted that it was repeated behaviour, affecting multiple victims.

However, the panel agreed that the sergeant previously had an “unblemished record” and “clearly has the respect of many of his colleagues”.

“The panel found there was genuine remorse on the part of Officer D and a genuine desire to improve,” a report said.

He has been handed a reduction in rank and will continue to serve with the police as a constable.

The Lynn News has requested that Norfolk Police remove the officer’s anonymity, as we believe the public has a right to know who he is – particularly if he is still working in the Lynn and West Norfolk area.