Depraved police officer said 'my life's f*****' as he was arrested

Daily Mirror

9 hours ago

Owen Mills, 22, from Cornwall, made "sexual contact" with a woman who had brain damage due to alcoholism and he had been tasked with supervising, a court heard
An officer who made "sexual contact" with a vulnerable woman in a police car as well as sending her racy messages, said "my life's f*****" when arrested.
A court heard how Owen Mills had been tasked with supervising the woman, who had brain damage due to alcoholism. The 22-year-old made his depraved move while she was detained in a police car, having been turned away from one hospital, before further explicit contact was made when the pair were alone in a second hospital for 'about 20 minutes'. Mills, a former officer with Staffordshire Police, went on to send racy messages to the woman while she was kept in hospital.
Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard that Mills had also sent inappropriate messages to another woman, who had been witness to a shoplifting crime.
Mills resigned from his position with the force in June 2023, reported StokeonTrentLive. Prosecutor Kat Shields described how Mills first made sexual contact with the vulnerable woman after she had been turned away from Harplands Hospital, a mental health facility in Stoke.
She said: "He took part in the transport of the woman to Harplands Hospital where she was to be detained under the Mental Health Act. The hospital would not accept her as a patient. She was turned away. She was detained in a police car.
"An officer informed Mills to remain with her and he explicitly instructed him to turn his body worn footage on. Mills acknowledged that instruction. What followed was sexual contact between Mills and the woman in the back of the police car while detained under the Mental Health Act outside the hospital.
"When his colleague returned the woman seemed happier and bubblier. He thought Mills had put her at ease. She was taken to St George's Hospital in Stafford where a bed had become available. At the hospital Mills was again left alone with the woman. They were alone for about 20 minutes. Sexual contact again took place between them."
The court heard the woman was admitted to St George's for a number of days and she exchanged messages with Mills. Miss Shields said: "The messages continued on Christmas Eve. They were of a sexually explicit nature and referred to the interactions they had had in the police car outside hospital and in the waiting room at the other hospital. On Christmas Day he sent her a message which said, 'I want you all over me'."
On New Year's Day he sent her a photo of himself in a police uniform. In January the woman asked staff at a mental health care facility if it was alright to be seeing a police officer.
Mills was arrested on January 12, 2023. He told officers, 'That is it, my life is f*****'. He was suspended but resigned from the force on June 6, 2023. The court also heard Mills had been crewed with just male officers after a number of female officers had reported to their superiors that he made them feel uncomfortable due to his sexual comments and childish behaviour.
And in another incident Mills took a statement from a woman shop worker in relation to a shoplifting offence in September 2022. He asked her for her phone number. She told him he already had it on the form and he stored the number in her phone and texted her.
The pair then exchanged messages and there was a WhatsApp conversation between them between October 2, 2022 and January 4, 2023. Miss Shields said: "He sent her a topless photograph and asked her to send nude photographs in return. She declined, although she did send one of herself in a bra. He sent a video of himself masturbating. They did not meet up and later lost touch."
Miss Shields added: "A deterrent sentence is necessary. He was an inexperienced police officer at the time. But that does not excuse his very serious offending and his manipulation of two women in this case, one of them extremely vulnerable." Mills, of Bude, Cornwall, pleaded guilty to two charges of corrupt or improper exercise of police powers or privileges.
Elizabeth Power, mitigating, said Mills was aged 18 when he joined the police. She said: "It is clear from the statements he received little or no support from his colleagues and how they viewed him. He was a young man isolated from his family and those around him. It is clear it is born out of some degree of loneliness and isolation.
"He takes full responsibility for his actions. He accepts overstepping the line. He has some insight into his offending and how his offending has brought the police service into disrepute. He accepts it amounts to a serious breach of trust. He is now maturing. He is 22. He was of good character. He has lost that good character."
Miss Power added that Mills may be targeted in a prison environment. Mills was jailed for up to two years. Judge Richard McConaghy said Mills abused his position as a police officer to engage with a witness in a criminal investigation. He said: "You were doing so for your own sexual gratification."
Judge McConaghy said Mills' interactions with the second woman were more serious. He said: "When your colleague was inside the hospital discussing whether or not she was to be admitted, you were tasked with supervising her and taking care of her welfare, but you engaged in physical sexual contact with her.
"It is clear from the messages the two of you engaged in further sexual contact in the hospital waiting area. In the aftermath you continued to contact her and a sexual relationship followed.
"Members of the public must be able to trust the police. They must be able to trust that those in a vulnerable position are not exploited by the police. You knew what your responsibilities were and you ignored them to your own sexual end. The vast majority of police officers work very hard and maintain high standards. Those who offend in the way you did undermine the confidence that the public can have in the police."
The judge said the offending was so serious only immediate custody was appropriate. Mills will serve 40 per cent of the jail term with the rest on licence.