A West Yorkshire Police Sex Offender detective, Wasim Bashir, has been sentenced to two years and three months in prison for initiating a relationship with a “vulnerable” woman who had reported a sexual crime.
Wasim Bashir, 55, who had been involved in the victim’s case, initiated a connection with her following his transportation of her to a video interview. A judge said that he was the officer who collected a saliva sample from her while gathering evidence.
A judge informed the officer, a former expert rape investigator, that he had perpetrated a “gross breach of trust.” Such acts not only “impact the victim” but also affect those engaged in future cases, as they may feel unable to “trust the police.”
Wasim Bashir was convicted of one count of misconduct in a public office for engaging in a sexual connection with a woman while serving on a safeguarding unit with West Yorkshire Police.
Sheffield Crown Court was informed that the lady commenced a connection with Wasim Bashir following her report of a sexual assault to the police in 2020. Wasim Bashir and a female officer had participated in obtaining her statement; nonetheless, he subsequently contacted her a few days later to enquire about her well-being.
The judge noted that the accused officer had also collected a mouth swab from her and transported her to a video interview. The woman, experiencing mental health challenges, expressed gratitude for his attention and consented to meet him for coffee. The judge recounted the evolution of their contact into a sexual connection during June and July 2020.
During this time, they had sex twice, and he suggested to the victim that they ‘should have a threesome’. At one point, he slapped her and spat in her face, the judge said, which he said “illustrated” his real feelings towards her. “You were interested in your own sexual gratification rather than forming any meaningful relationship with her,” the judge told him.
He said the former officer was “careful to cover your tracks” by refusing to give her his personal phone number and telling her to delete messages. “You had a complete disregard for her safeguarding needs,” the judge added. The sexual relationship stopped in early 2021 , when she started seeing someone else.
The woman said they stayed in touch until she became aware he had posted photographs of the two of them on an adult “swingers” website, presenting them as a couple. She said she contacted Wasim Bashir to protest about this, and he apologised and promised to delete it. Jurors heard the woman decided to report the relationship to the police at the end of 2021.
In a victim impact statement read during Friday’s sentencing hearing, the woman said the man she was “supposed to trust” manipulated her and used her for sexual gratification. The statement read: “I should have been able to trust him due to the position he held within the police.”
In mitigation, Jason Pitter KC said the breakdown of Wasim Bashir’s marriage in 2017 had had a profound impact on him, and he was a carer for his mother, who had dementia. Bashir was cleared of another charge of misconduct in a public office.
Jailing him for over two years, Judge Charles Thomas said: “Your behaviour towards (the complainant) was a gross breach of trust…You prioritised your own sexual gratification.”
Prosecutor Tony Dunne previously said the woman said she had “lost all trust in the police” as a result of Wasim Bashir’s actions. Wasim Bashir was charged in 2023 after an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) and West Yorkshire Police.
IOPC director Emily Barry said: “As a police officer, DC Wasim Bashir held significant power, so to abuse his position for a sexual purpose was an invidious and corrupt use of that power.
“Despite being an officer with 28 years’ service, Wasim Bashir blatantly disregarded the rules designed to protect the public and maintain confidence in the police. His actions can only have undermined trust in policing.”
Det Supt Natalie Dawson, from West Yorkshire Police, said for an officer “to pursue a sexual relationship with a vulnerable woman who had come forward to report being a victim of a sexual offence is nothing short of abhorrent”.
“I want to reassure victims of crime and the wider public that this former officer is not representative of our organisation.”
She said the force had taken “swift action” to suspend Wasim Bashir from duty ON FULL PAY, adding that although Bashir had retired, the force would continue with an utterly ridiculous and pointless professional misconduct proceedings “with a view to him being banned from gaining any further employment in the policing profession”.
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