Leicestershire police officer dismissed after pinning crying woman to his bed and biting her

A Leicestershire police officer pinned a crying woman to his bed and biting her, a misconduct panel has heard.

The hearing ruled PC Jake Cooke-Wilkinson’s actions were deliberate, very serious and amounted to gross misconduct, and he was dismissed from the force without notice.

Mr Cooke-Wilkinson met the woman - named only as Miss A - at a late-night bar in Leamington in August 2022. They had a conversation about art, which, the panel said, was ‘a guise to ensure Miss A returned to his flat’.

Miss A said she did not want to have sex with him, but did agree to kiss him, the report stated. He repeatedly asked her if she would go further and she repeatedly said she did not want to, it added.

Mr Cooke-Wilkinson asked if she would give him a love bite, to which she agreed. He told the hearing he enjoyed biting and being bitten, and “got gratification from giving and receiving pain because it sexually aroused him”.

He then started touching her inappropriately, before picking her up “in a caveman-like manner”, “put her over his shoulder”, “carried her into his bedroom”, and “threw her onto his bed”. He did not check Miss A consented to this, the report said. He pinned her to the bed, holding her down with his hands on her right shoulder and her neck, and bit her repeatedly on her left shoulder, bruising her, it added.

Miss A began to cry and told him again she did not want to have sex with him, according to the report, but he continued to bite her. When she cried out in pain, he responded by telling her he could bite her harder, the panel stated.

She said she tried to get away from Mr Cooke-Wilkinson but could not because he was on top of her, forcefully holding her down on the bed and was stronger than she was. The report stated: “Whilst on the bed the officer said, ‘I know how to be a police officer but not a person”, and, ‘It turns me on how you pretend not to want this’.”

Miss A told the hearing she thought he would stop if she fell asleep, which she eventually managed to do. He drove her home the next day, and her work colleagues convinced her to go to the police, which she did. However, she did not want to proceed with a criminal investigation.

The misconduct hearing panel ruled Mr Cooke-Wilkinson paid “little or no regard to whether Miss A consented to any sexual contact beyond kissing because of his desire to have sex with her”. His actions were “intentional and deliberate” and were “individually and cumulatively very serious”, it added.

Mr Cooke-Wilkinson “did not show any remorse or insight into his conduct”, the panel said. He maintained throughout the hearing that what happened was “essentially consensual sexual conduct between two consenting adults”. The panel ruled his evidence was “self-serving” and “lacking in credibility”, however.

Detective superintendent Rich Ward, head of professional standards at Leicestershire Police, said: “We take any report of this nature extremely seriously. This behaviour is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated by us in force."

“Building and maintaining trust and confidence in our force remains a priority. We continue to challenge any unacceptable behaviour which does not meet the professional standards which are rightly expected of us.”