Former police officer handcuffed woman he met on dating website, panel told

A former police officer handcuffed a woman he met on a dating website, while off-duty but wearing his uniform, in the hope it would be the “start of a more intimate relationship”, a misconduct hearing found.

Pc Ben Mace, of Cambridgeshire Police, had not told the woman of his plan to wear his uniform to her home, or to use his police-issue handcuffs on her, the disciplinary panel found.

The panel concluded that his actions amounted to gross misconduct and he would have been sacked if he had not already quit.

It was found proven that Mace, who had arranged to meet the woman at her home, took home his police uniform, including body armour, tactical vest and cap, and police-issue handcuffs, after working a shift around November 1, 2019.

Later that day while off-duty, he drove to the woman’s home in his personal vehicle, wearing his personal clothes, before changing in his vehicle into his police uniform.

When he arrived at the woman’s home and she answered her door, he introduced himself as if he were an on-duty police officer, the panel found.

After he was invited in, he placed her in his police-issue handcuffs in the “rear stack” position.

He had “no policing purpose for any of these actions”, the panel found.

In interview, Mace said he formed the intention to take his uniform with him “probably a few days before”.

Asked if he had told the woman any of this, he replied: “No, I was going to surprise her.”

He accepted he had patted down the woman while she was handcuffed.

The panel noted that while Mace “may not have intended that the touching would lead to a sexual encounter, his motivation was sexual”.

“He hoped that this would be the start of a more intimate relationship/encounter with Ms A, if not when the date occurred, on some other occasion,” they found.

“His actions went beyond a casual, friendly contact.”

Mace did not attend the disciplinary hearing earlier in December at the Cambridgeshire Constabulary headquarters in Huntingdon.

It was found in his absence that his actions breached standards of professional behaviour and amounted to gross misconduct.

“The panel noted that Pc Mace’s wearing of his uniform in the circumstances that he did, and his use of his handcuffs, were a serious departure from the standards of professional behaviour,” the outcome of the misconduct hearing said.

“There was no policing purpose or justification.

“He should have known that as well as representing a serious departure from the standards, further, his actions could be viewed as threatening for Ms A, and would, if known about, diminish the reputation of the police force.”

The panel ruled that Mace would have been dismissed had he not already resigned from the force.

Deputy chief constable Jane Gyford said: “Mace abused the trust and professionalism which the public rightly have in police officers, not to act in such a manner, on or off duty.

“His behaviour has no place in policing and he has now been held to account for his actions.”

Mace had faced a criminal prosecution but this was dropped at Chelmsford Crown Court in March 2023.

The court hearing was told that Mace, who at the time was 40, and of Peterborough, would not face trial for sexual assault as there was “no longer a realistic prospect of conviction”.

He had denied the allegation of the sexual assault of a woman in Peterborough in 2019.