Former Northamptonshire Police officer admits seven counts of misconduct over 20 years including coercive control

A former Northamptonshire Police sergeant has resigned from his current force after admitting seven allegations of controlling women.

Daniel Boulter was a detective sergeant in CID with Northamptonshire Police until he moved to Lincolnshire Police in 2014.

He is accused of spitting in a woman’s face during sex and controlling women through “manipulation and degrading acts”. Mr Boulter was set to face seven allegations at a misconduct hearing relating to the coercive control of two women, and his failure to disclose a number of matters, including two criminal investigations relating to violence, coercive control and voyeurism.

The seven allegations spanned 20 years of Mr Boulter's policing career, while he worked for Northamptonshire Police, Lincolnshire Police, and finally South Yorkshire Police.

Mr Boulter admitted to the conduct purported in all seven allegations, as well as the 'particulars' when he resigned from his position of Detective Chief Inspector at South Yorkshire Police, his barrister, Richard Ohme, told the misconduct hearing on Monday (August 7, 2023).

Delivering its findings on Tuesday, August 8, the panel found gross misconduct had been proven in all seven charges, and said he would have been sacked from South Yorkshire Police, had he not resigned.

Mr Boulter will now be added to the College of Policing Barred list which means he cannot return to a role in policing in the UK. However he “does not meet the criteria for pension forfeiture as this is not heard in a criminal court,” a South Yorkshire Police spokesperson confirmed.

When asked, a spokesperson for South Yorkshire Police confirmed Mr Boulter had held the position of Detective Inspector of the force's rape and serious sexual offences unit, and had also been Detective Chief Inspector of Crime in Rotherham with the force.

Mr Boulter also previously held a senior role within Lincolnshire Police's Emerald team, which is dedicated to investigating sexual assault and rape, initially as an Acting Inspector and then Inspector, a Lincolnshire Police spokesperson told The Sheffiled Star.

Opening the case in Mr Boulter's absence, John Beggs KC, acting on behalf of South Yorkshire Police, said the first of the criminal investigations was launched by Northamptonshire Police in 2012, after he was accused of voyeurism. The offence was alleged to have arisen from threesomes Mr Boulter coerced a woman into having, and then watched without the consent, or knowledge, of all participants.

The case was referred to the Crown Prosecution Service. However, it was not proceeded with due to “evidentiary insufficiency”, but Mr Boulter was interviewed under misconduct caution by Northamptonshire Police’s professional standards department in September 2013. However, a report from DS Clancy into Mr Boulter’s behaviour concluded there was “no case to answer”.

The voyeurism allegation was not one of the seven charges Mr Boulter was accused of, and admitted to, as part of these misconduct proceedings, after the hearing's panel deemed it to be outside their jurisdiction. The details of the alleged conduct was laid out by Mr Beggs during the course of the misconduct hearing, however, in order to inform the panel of the specifics of the first criminal investigation.

Mr Beggs also said: “It can now, with hindsight, be very clearly seen that all three constabularies failed. In respect to Northants Police and Lincolnshire Police, they did not deal properly with allegations of misogyny made to them by six different women. They did not investigate with nuance or attention to detail required.”

Mr Beggs suggested that the failings of the three police forces did not just relate to vetting practices, but also to their inability to bring misconduct proceedings against the officer after the criminal investigations were launched against him by the very police forces he worked for, first with Northants Police, and then Lincolnshire Police.

In response to this, Northamptonshire Police said that if the allegations had been looked at today, there would have been a “very different outcome”.

Det Supt Natalee Starbuck, head of professional standards for Northamptonshire Police, said: “We note the comments made at the misconduct hearing in relation to the Force concerning the conduct of Daniel Boulter, a serving officer with us from 1999-2014.

“After the allegations came to light at South Yorkshire Police, Northamptonshire Police conducted an independent review to examine in detail how our own inquiries into the officer were carried out at the time.

“Regrettably, we have concluded that had the allegations been looked at today, some 12 years on, there would have been a very different outcome.”

Speaking after the panel's findings were returned, a South Yorkshire Police spokesperson described Mr Boulter as a “man who had controlled the lives of two women through manipulation and degrading acts”.

Head of professional standards, Detective Superintendent Delphine Waring added: “The integrity of any police force is based on the honesty of those within it. Daniel Boulter circumvented the system with dishonesty and lies as he knew the truth would have ruled him out of working for South Yorkshire Police.

“He has behaved in a deplorable manner towards women, carrying out acts which were intentional, premeditated and repeated.

“However, we must also recognise this demonstrated errors in our vetting process in 2019. Our vetting procedures must be able to withstand the challenges of those who seek to undermine them.

"We must be professionally curious such that the answers to questions are checked against any other information we may have available to us. Since these allegations came to light we have carried out a complete overhaul of our vetting processes and restructured the department. As a result, we are now confident that a transferee with this background would not be able to enter the force today.”