Senior armed police officer with ‘unblemished’ 20-year career is sacked after telling female colleague her bottom was ‘the work of the Gods’

A senior police officer with an ‘unblemished’ 20-year professional record has been dismissed for gross misconduct after making ‘derogatory’ comments to three female subordinates.

Terry Mayers, 47, was described as an ‘exemplary officer’ at Manchester Police.

The trained firearms officer’s record includes being a ‘first responder’ officer at the Manchester Arena terror attack in May 2017, where 22 people were killed by suicide bomber Salman Abedi at an Ariana Grande concert.

But a misconduct panel found the Sergeant “persistently” targeted three female officers “for the sole purpose of establishing an inappropriate sexual relationship and obtaining sexual gratification.”

He added: ‘Police Sergeant Mayers should have realized that his actions were inappropriate and could be perceived as an abuse of trust, particularly given the leadership responsibility he had.’

The panel heard Mayers first approached a colleague, identified as Officer A, at the end of a night shift in 2022, asking if her husband would “try it out with you” when he arrived home.

When the answer was ‘No’, the man said: ‘If it were me, I would pull your panties aside.’

Around Christmas that year, Mayers asked him ‘what would I have to do to keep him?’ he asked. He then made a gesture suggesting he ‘squeeze’ the woman’s bottom, the panel was told.

He was later said to have said on a separate occasion ‘I’d love to bury my schnoz there’, referring to her bottom.

Mr Mayers was said to have ‘persistently asked’ to see ‘naughty or revealing’ photos of himself on his mobile phone. In his statement he said he would say ‘Show Tel some pictures, go ahead, be a good egg’.

A second woman, officer B, described Mayers as ‘a little creepy’.

The disciplinary panel heard the man sent her an Instagram message in August 2022 that “contained expletives referring to gender” and said he would “drive over” to be with her.

In a subsequent text exchange, Officer B said he indicated to Mayers that he intended to be promoted.

He responded by advising her to ‘go to a quiet room at night, with the lower cracks on the side.’

Mayers was said to have made ‘repeated comments’ about Officer A’s attractiveness and appearance, referring to her bottom as ‘Gods work’ and ‘good job’.

The panel also heard him tell Office B: ‘I’ve never seen anyone make a pair of ARV (armed response vehicle) trousers (trousers) the way you can do them.’

In his statement, Officer B added: ‘During his 12-hour duty period, he asked to see my explicit photograph on numerous occasions and this happened every time we met.

‘I started to feel pressured because he kept asking me that, but I never did what he wanted.’

Officer C said Mayers told him while the pair were on patrol: ‘What would you do if I kissed you now?’

All three officers were said to feel humiliated and humiliated.

He admitted making inappropriate comments but denied this amounted to gross misconduct.

However, the panel said it found Mr Mayers’ “persistence” towards police officers “constituted sexual harassment as defined under the Equality Act”.

The decision said: ‘The contact was due to the desire to establish inappropriate sexual relations.

‘This happened to three separate police officers and was not an isolated incident.

‘In a department that is clearly underrepresented by female officers, police sergeant Mayers’ language and behavior in her position as sergeant had a disproportionate impact on women in the unit.

‘The language he used in his communication undoubtedly caused trouble.

‘The panel concluded that the public’s trust, confidence and legitimacy were tarnished by the actions of Police Sergeant Mayers and that such actions damaged the standing and reputation of the profession in the circuit.’

He added: ‘The panel took the view that the communications were deliberate and targeted steps for the sole purpose of establishing an inappropriate sexual relationship and obtaining sexual gratification.’

Mayers’ former partner, who is also a serving police officer, told the panel that he was a ‘broken man’ and that what happened had ‘shattered’ his ‘trust, reputation and career’.

Mayers declined to comment on the decision because he has filed an appeal.