Paul Hinchcliffe: South Yorkshire Police officer found guilty of sexual assault

Married father-of-four Paul Hinchcliffe later messaged the woman, who was 18 years old at the time, saying: “God, I'd do you”, with sexually explicit emojis, a court heard.

The South Yorkshire PC was convicted of one charge of sexual assault yesterday.

Hinchcliffe, 46, sat with his head in his hands and could be heard sobbing when the verdict was announced.

The trial at Leeds Crown Court heard the woman and Hinchcliffe, who was then 43, were in a group drinking at a Wetherspoons pub in Wath-upon-Dearne, South Yorkshire, on October 3, 2020.

In an interview played to jurors, the woman said: “It didn't start off strange. I think the first odd thing was he made comments about my bum and said: ‘Every time you get up to the toilet, I've had a look.’”

She told the detectives that Hinchcliffe later took a photograph of her wearing her glasses and showed everyone else, saying: “I'm going to have a w*** to that tonight.”

The woman described how the defendant started flicking foam from the top of his beer onto her glasses, which she first thought was “a laugh”.

But then she added: “He was throwing it down my boobs. Then he got his phone and kind of pulled my top open and took a picture down my top.”

She told the interviewing officers that the defendant was making noises as he flicked the foam at her and she said: “I think he was making reference to ejaculating on my chest.”

Hinchcliffe told the group he was going to send the picture to his friend who could not make it out that night, she added.

The woman, who lived with her parents, described how she went back to an empty house and “I just absolutely cried my eyes out - I was absolutely hysterical”.

She said she got WhatsApp messages from Hinchcliffe that night with a picture of her accompanied by “wanking emojis”.

The woman said one message said: “God I'd do you, is that bad?” The woman said she replied: “Yes, it is.”

She said he told her: “Sorry, I'm just drunk.”

Asked about how the conversation began, the woman told the detectives that the group was talking about her plans for a “boob job”.

She said she had mentioned she had a “chest like a 12-year-old” and Hinchcliffe had said: “You've got a bum like a 12-year-old.”

The woman told the officers: “I feel like I don't want to go out in a low-cut top and leather trousers any more. I don't want people looking at my bum all the time. I don't want people looking at my boobs.

“At the same time I feel guilty. I don't know why. I feel like I could've said something at the time. I feel like 'what if he thought I wanted him to do these things?’”

Hinchcliffe told the court he was “mortified” to be on trial, saying the woman consented to him taking a photograph of her cleavage.

The defendant admitted sending a picture taken down the woman's top to a colleague but denied pulling the garment down.

He said he had been drinking beer with a group, including other officers, for around seven and a half hours at the time of the incident.

South Yorkshire Police previously said Hinchcliffe, who had a role training police officers at the time, had been suspended from duties and an internal misconduct investigation was on hold pending the outcome of the trial.

Judge Robin Mairs told Hinchcliffe he would be sentenced at a later date following a report from the probation service.