AN EX-North Wales Police officer has been found guilty of gross misconduct after engaging in a sexual relationship with a victim of a crime.

At a hearing, held on March 27 at the force’s headquarters in Colwyn Bay, former constable, PC John Kelham, faced numerous allegations.

During 2021, he was alleged to have been involved with investigating two separate incidents involving a vulnerable victim of crime, and proceeded to engage in a sexual relationship with her.

During 2021 and 2022, he was also accused of providing two untruthful written statements in respect of the investigation into his conduct, and continuing to have contact with the female despite twice being instructed to stop by a senior officer.

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A disciplinary panel found that Kelham had breached the standards of professional behaviour.

Deputy chief constable, Richard Debicki, said: “Cases where officers have abused their position for sexual purposes are amongst the most serious matters that we investigate.

“The conduct of this officer, sadly, fell way below what both the public and the force expects.

“It is clear from this former officer’s behaviour during the course of the initial IOPC investigation that he had a total disregard towards authority and continued to abuse his position as a police officer.

“Behaviour of this kind undermines the efforts of the majority of people who work for North Wales Police to build and retain the trust and confidence of our communities.

“The public has a right to expect police officers to uphold the highest standards of professionalism and that those who fail to do so are investigated and dealt with robustly.

“As I have said before, we take a zero-tolerance approach to matters of this kind, and there is no place for anyone who displays this kind of behaviour in North Wales Police.

“I would like to apologise to the victim who displayed great courage in speaking out about her experience. I am grateful to her for this.

“I hope that we have demonstrated with this and other recent cases that we are determined to stamp out this kind of behaviour and that anyone with concerns of this nature can be confident to speak to us knowing it will be taken seriously and dealt with.”

Investigating officer, Mike Williams, said: “We are extremely grateful to the victim in this case who had the courage to engage with us about her experience with former PC Kelham.

“Likewise, we are also thankful to a number of other witnesses within the community who supported the investigation, which greatly assisted us in meticulously piecing together what had happened.”