Police officer had breakdown at work months before ‘flirting’ with witness

Matthew Peall, who is based in Canterbury, is on trial at Southwark Crown Court accused of misconduct in a judicial or public office.

Matthew Peall has pleaded not guilty to the charge (James Manning/ PA Archive) (PA Archive)

A serving Kent Police officer had a breakdown at work months before he allegedly sent flirtatious messages to a witness during a burglary investigation, a court has heard.

Matthew Peall, 47, who is based in Canterbury, is on trial at Southwark Crown Court accused of misconduct in a judicial or public office.

He allegedly shared flirtatious text messages, emails and phone calls with a care home manager while investigating the burglary of an elderly client between October and December 2019.

On Wednesday the court heard a prepared statement given by Peall during an interview with the Independent Office for Police Conduct over the matter in August 2020.

In the statement, the defendant said he “accepted there were flirtatious messages by text” sent to the complainant but no such conversations had happened face-to-face.

He said he was struggling with his workload which had “taken its toll on me” at the time of the allegations and that there were “difficulties” at home.

Peall had had a breakdown at work in March 2019 and subsequent problems sleeping, and all of these factors had “contributed to me foolishly engaging in these exchanges”, the statement said.

The court previously heard Peall had visited the complainant’s house twice on October 22 and 28 2019 to obtain two witness statements about a burglary, which had been reported earlier that month.

These were the only two occasions they met in person, and the complainant confirmed Peall did not try to make contact with her on social media and did not try to arrange a meeting at an external location.

Giving evidence in the trial on Wednesday, Gary Lidder, lead investigator for the IOPC, told the jury the complainant did not raise concerns to the police about the messages but that Kent Police conducted an audit on Peall’s phone and identified a potential “abuse of position for a sexual purpose”.

A mandatory referral was then made by the force to the IOPC on February 19 2020.

The court heard Peall was informed in 2021 that the criminal investigation was no longer active, but that this decision was appealed and reversed by the IOPC.

Ryan Dowding, defending, told the court Kent Police had no training package in place for officers in 2019 which covered “abuse of position for a sexual purpose” and that no such package was introduced until 2021.

Put to him by Mr Dowding that police guidance available at the time of the alleged offence gave “no absolute bar” for having relationships with members of the public unless they were vulnerable, Mr Lidder said the complainant was not vulnerable “in the traditional sense” but had been affected by the loss of an elderly patient.

The court also heard a statement from June 2020 from Diane Jones, a retired Kent Police officer who was “great friends” with the complainant as she provided care for her elderly mother.

Ms Jones said they would often have chats together when she was around her home providing care, and in November 2019 the complainant raised with her that Peall had sent a text message which said: “Thank you for the tea.”

She said she thought the message was “a little odd” but that perhaps Peall was “just being friendly”, and told the complainant it was normal for officers to take statements at home addresses.

Peall, who has no previous convictions, has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The trial continues.