'Controlling' cop who banned girlfriends from talking to men and wearing nail polish kicked off force

PC Wayne Hodge was sacked following a misconduct panel hearing into allegations he had "controlled and coerced" the lives of two female partners. Photo: AVON AND SOMERSET POLICE

A "controlling" police officer who banned girlfriends from talking to men, wearing red nail polish or accepting Tesco deliveries if he was not at home has been kicked off the force.

PC Wayne Hodge, 38, closely monitored two girlfriends' movements and became jealous if he saw them around other men.

It was alleged that he banned one ex - referred to as Ms T - from filling up her water-bottle at the gym because she would have to encounter men at the fountain.

Ms T told a disciplinary panel that Hodge also told her she couldn't paint her nails red because it "gave men the wrong idea" and that he would regularly restrict her movements to avoid male contact entirely.

She also claimed she was banned from having Tesco deliveries if Hodge wasn't at the house.

After a bunch of flowers was delivered to her at work, Ms T rang her boyfriend to ask if they were from him.

But he told her: "If you bring those f***ing flowers home I'll f***ing stamp all over them."

Dressed in his police uniform, Hodge visited a florist to demand the contact details for the man who had bought the bouquet, and then called him, lying that Ms T had been stalked in the past and was distressed.

A friend of Ms T tipped off his bosses at Avon and Somerset Constabulary about his behaviour and he was suspended.

But when Hodge returned to his job in January 2017 he began tracking the movements of his current fiancée, a fellow police worker referred to as Ms D, using the police computer system.

Barrister Mark Ley Morgan, representing Avon and Somerset Constabulary, said: "There are very clear, very obvious similarities between the behaviour towards Ms T and Ms D.

"He used police systems while he was on duty to check where Ms D was. He told her that a lot of his behaviour was due to anxiety.

"We do not accept there is any medical evidence to substantiate this, and that even if there was, we say it is no excuse whatsoever for his behaviour."

A panel at the police HQ in Portishead, Somerset, found he had breached standards of honesty and integrity, authority respect and courtesy, and discreditable conduct.

Chairman of the panel Alex Lock said: "We found it was an abuse of position for a police officer to obtain customer details from the florist. It was an entirely personal matter and PC Hodge was dishonest to present it otherwise.

"In relation to Ms D, all the factual allegations were supported by the text messages we had seen.

"The tone, contents and volume of the messages together with the fact they were sent during and about work satisfied us he was behaving in a controlling and coercive manner.

"It was a breach of the code to use the police system to track Ms D."

Hodge was dismissed without notice.