Former officer jailed after relationship with vulnerable woman uncovered by professional standards detectives

A former officer has been jailed after an investigation by our dedicated unit for professional standards discovered how he pursued a sexual relationship with a vulnerable woman.

Shamraze Arshad (38) from Bolton was convicted by a jury yesterday (13 June 2024) of misconduct in a public office following a retrial at Liverpool Crown Court.

Today he was sentenced to four years in prison.

He was sacked from GMP in January this year following a trial in July 2023 found him guilty of perverting the course of justice and data misuse as part of the same case.

We will be writing to the Deputy Mayor of GM to request for Arshad to lose his police pension.

Our investigation began in July 2021 following a routine audit check by our Professional Standards Directorate (PSD) found Arshad – who was a PC based at Longsight – had been using police systems while off-duty and without a policing purpose.

Subsequent enquiries found he had been making a large volume of contact with a particular number from his work phone. We established that this number was connected to a woman who Arshad had previously responded to after a 999 call about concern for her welfare in October 2020.

He was arrested and suspended in July 2021.

Despite being released on bail with conditions not to contact the woman, Arshad went to her address and told her housemates to pass on a message that she shouldn’t tell the police anything about their relationship.

He was arrested the following day for attempting to pervert the course of justice and later charged.

We spoke to the woman who bravely gave an account of the sexual relationship that Arshad pursued with her.

After now being convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice, data misuse, and misconduct in a public office, Arshad sentenced to four years in jail.

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Jones, of our Professional Standards Directorate, said: “I want to thank the courageous woman in this case for providing us with the evidence that was so important in ensuring that Arshad is rightly held accountable for the full extent of his crimes.

“He abused his position as a police officer to pursue a sexual relationship with a vulnerable woman who he was supposed to protect in her time of need. This is an unforgivable breach of policing standards and it’s right he will never be trusted to wear a police uniform again.

“Arshad’s jail term is fully deserved. He is a disgrace to the police service and does not represent the thousands of professional, honest, hard-working police officers across Greater Manchester who continue to protect the public each and every day.

“As soon as we were legally able to, we sacked Arshad and, now that criminal proceedings have been concluded, we will invite the Deputy Mayor to strip him of his police pension.”