Norfolk PC guilty of sexual assault

A Norfolk police officer has been found guilty of two counts of sexual assault and acquitted on a third.

PC Ben Poole, aged 25, had denied three counts of sexual assault by touching following a number of incidents in one evening.

Today, Friday 4 July 2025, following a four-day trial at Ipswich Crown Court, a jury found him guilty of one count of sexual assault on a man and another count of sexual assault on a woman in Norwich on 1 October 2022.

They found him not guilty of sexual assault on another woman on the same evening.

The court heard the assaults, which involved him sexually touching them without their consent, happened during the course of the evening at a Norwich nightspot, when Poole had been celebrating a birthday.

He was asked to leave the nightspot by security due to his drunkenness.

The charges followed an internal investigation by the constabulary’s Professional Standards Department (PSD).

In interview, Poole said he had no recollection of the events and did not consider himself to be drunk at the time.

He admitted his actions as described would constitute sexual assault but claimed his drink must have been spiked.

Chief Constable Paul Sanford said: “I am absolutely appalled by Poole’s behaviour, which is both deeply concerning and distressing for his victims who had been forced to relive their experiences.

"It is testament to their courage in speaking up that we have been able to bring Poole to account and, hopefully, seek justice on their behalf. 

“The public rightly expect officers to uphold the law when on and off duty and we will always remove officers who fall short of our standards.

"Any form of sexual assault is totally unacceptable, and we will always take action against any offender. This type of behaviour is wholly reprehensible and has no place in society or policing.”

Poole – who was based in the Great Yarmouth area at the time when the offences took place - was suspended as soon as the allegations were reported to PSD. An internal misconduct process was paused until the end of the criminal investigation and subsequent trial so as not to prejudice any criminal proceedings.

He was bailed by the court to return to Ipswich Crown Court for sentencing on 29 August 2025.