Police sergeant who filmed himself masturbating in a bush near a children’s playpark is now ‘living in a hotel’ after being ‘sent away for his own safety’ and spared jail

Police sergeant who filmed himself masturbating in a bush near a children’s playpark is now ‘living in a hotel’ after being ‘sent away for his own safety’ and spared jail A police sergeant who was caught naked while masturbating in park bushes near a children’s playground was spared jail.

Simon Ince, 51, escaped being charged with more serious offences because prosecutors ruled there was no evidence anybody had seen him engaging in the lewd behaviour.

He was caught when colleagues trawled through his phone after he was arrested last February for loitering in woodland with no clothes on.

The incriminating photos showed him nude and masturbating in the same spot in Vale Drive park close to his home in Chatham, Kent some five months previously.

He was sacked by his force – Kent Police – who had hoped to secure a charge of either indecent exposure or outraging public decency after a file was handed to the Crown Prosecution Service.

However, it was revealed this week that the CPS ruled the offence could not be prosecuted as there was no evidence Sgt Ince had been seen by anyone and so did not constitute criminality. Instead police were advised to consider only a caution for the incident that led to his arrest, but did give authorisation to charge him with a public order offence for behaviour likely to cause alarm or distress, for which the maximum sentence is a £1,000 fine.

Kent Police challenged the decision but its appeal was dismissed by the CPS following a ‘detailed internal review’. Sgt Ince was charged with the public order offence and appeared before Brighton Magistrates’ Court on September 17 last year.

The court heard Sgt Ince had been seen naked ‘in close proximity to a children’s play park’ by dog walkers, ‘causing them distress’.
A member of the public managed to take a photograph of him near to some bushes without any clothes on.

After being spotted, Sgt Ince quickly dressed into ‘keep-fit clothing’ and started jogging around the park, but officers soon arrived and he was led away in handcuffs. A subsequent search of his mobile phone revealed images of previous ‘similar incidents’ including one of him crawling into the same wooded area in September 2023, the court was told.

Sgt Ince’s solicitor requested he be given a conditional caution – a punishment that avoids prosecution but requires someone to admit their offending and abide by specific conditions for a specific time.

After receiving the advice of the CPS, Kent Police representatives in court agreed to this outcome and Sgt Ince was made to attend a ‘thinking skills’ online course and stay away from the Vale Drive park area.

He avoided being placed on the sex offenders’ register, a punishment that would have been handed down had he had been convicted of indecent exposure, the maximum sentence of which is two years in prison. The case came to light after the CPS confirmed it had discontinued the case on January 29 this year.

Following the revelations, Sgt Ince, who worked at Maidstone police station, has fled the family home on safety grounds and is currently lying low in a hotel.

He was sacked by Kent Police without notice following a fast-track misconduct hearing.

The father-of-two admitted pleasuring himself in public but, in an email sent ahead of a disciplinary hearing, attempted to mitigate his behaviour by saying he was hidden from public view at the time. The plea fell on deaf ears and he was dismissed without notice after his actions were ruled to have breached the threshold for gross misconduct.

Chief Constable Tim Smith concluded the officer had acted as he did to ‘seek sexual gratification, through masturbating in public’ dismissing any suggestion it was a ‘private’ act.

Outlining his decision in a report he added: ‘I do not accept taking steps to hide from view is sufficient to justify such behaviour.
‘It is conceivable children playing in the park could have easily entered the same area and seen PS Ince naked and masturbating, this could have caused very direct harm to those children. This seems to be a risk that PS Ince has ignored.’Kent’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Scott said it was ‘disappointing’ the CPS did not authorise more serious charges against Ince and that the outcome at court was a caution.

He said: ‘It is evident from the investigation and his fast-track dismissal that Kent Police took this matter seriously.
‘No stone must be left unturned in the fight against officers and staff who commit criminal offences and I will continue to support and hold the force to account to make sure this is the case.’

Chatham and Aylesford MP Tris Osborne has described the case as ‘concerning to many’ and one that ‘damages the good work of the large majority of officers who protect and serve us all’.

He said: ‘It is welcome that Kent Police acted immediately to dismiss the officer in question for gross misconduct and I applaud the work of their teams internally in challenging this type of conduct robustly.
‘The police are rightly held to a higher level of public standards and this falls woefully short of this.

‘It is for the Crown Prosecution Service to engage in any court proceedings and I was not party to all the evidence being presented in this situation. However, I am concerned about this case and I will be making representations on this, and other such cases, to the Attorney General to understand whether the public interest has been served and public confidence upheld.’Trevor Clarke – the Medway councillor for the ward covering Vale Drive – says Ince’s behaviour caused concern locally adding: ‘Given what has appeared in the public domain, this decision is surprising and one wonders if other offenders would have been treated in the same seemingly light touch way. ‘The guy obviously needs help but the proximity to the children’s park adds a much more disturbing element to the offending from which one would have expected a more serious sentencing.’

A spokesman for the CPS said it makes all charging decisions ‘based on the evidence’ it is presented with.

A spokesman said: ‘In this case, we authorised a charge under the Public Order Act.

‘There was not sufficient evidence to charge more serious offences – a decision which was upheld by a detailed internal review.’A spokesperson for Kent Police said the force ‘explored all available criminal and misconduct options’ after Sgt Ince’s arrest and subsequent suspension from duties.

‘Kent Police, and the public it serves, expect police officers’ behaviour to be of the highest standard and the force took fast and appropriate action to end Ince’s employment with the force as soon as it was legally allowed to do so, using a fast-track dismissal process’, the spokesman added. The former officer has found employment elsewhere since his dismissal from the police but the source declined to reveal any further details.