JUNIOR colleagues of a police inspector sacked for making lewd comments and touching a female officer's bare leg were afraid to speak out against him and be seen as a 'grass', a misconduct panel heard.

Cumbria Police inspector Simon Gee was sacked from the force after he was ruled to have made a series of sexualised comments to female police officers on his team.

A misconduct hearing was told the inspector made several comments and touched a colleague's leg on a night out in Lancaster in September.

The panel heard the former inspector and colleagues were at the Sun Inn for a leaving do for the boyfriend of an officer only named as PC A.

Describing her appearance on the night, Inspector Gee was said to have made comments to her including: “Bloody hell, you’re not leaving anything to the imagination there are you.”

The hearing was also told Insp Gee said 'it’s really good to see more of our colleagues', emphasising the word 'really' and looking over at PC A, a comment taken by the panel as a reference to the officer's breasts.

And later that night in another bar he was said to have urged the officer to expose her breasts.  

Insp Gee did not accept making the comments but the panel said he 'had a propensity when in drink, to make sexual, lewd remarks to women'.

The hearing was told PC A and other colleagues were reluctant to give evidence against the officer 'because of their limited service, junior rank or other inhibitors such as loyalty and an unwillingness to be seen as a “grass”'.

A report of the hearing said: "There was a clear power imbalance due to rank.

"PC A would have to return to work and take orders from Insp Gee, and as a junior PC not long out of her probation, she would be unlikely to want to rock the boat in regard to someone who had an influence over her working life.

"The rank difference must have made it harder for PC A to speak up as did the fact that others present, more senior to herself, also remained silent."

The panel said while Insp Gee had described the comments as banter, it found them to be 'sexist, offensive and likely to cause embarrassment and/or harassment'.

In another incident that night, Insp Gee approached another officer, PC B, outside the pub as she sat on a push bike and whispered in her ear: “Should I sniff the seat while you are sat on it or should I wait until you are off it.”

The panel heard Insp Gee refused to accept the comment was offensive enough to warrant disciplinary action, claiming the woman was not offended.

The panel said PC B was also an unwilling witness 'perhaps believing Insp Gee’s behaviour was out of character, and therefore she did not wish to be seen to inform on him'.

Later that night he touched a female colleague's leg. She was said to have told him it was inappropriate.

"The touching was not a joke, and it was not part of innocent banter," the panel said.

"This conduct was aggravated by the fact a more senior male officer targeted a junior female who was his direct subordinate."

The panel ruled Insp Gee must be dismissed because anything less would 'seriously undermine public trust and confidence in the police, would cause additional serious harm to the reputation of the police and would not act as a deterrent to others inclined towards similar behaviour'.

Cumbria Constabulary’s Deputy Chief Constable Rob Carden said: “Cumbria Police holds its officers to the highest standards of integrity, whether on or off duty. It is clear that this officer fell far below these standards."

He described the comments the sacked officer made as 'inappropriate and inexcusable', saying: “No police officer should act in this way."