A policeman of 23 years has been fired without notice after being found guilty of gross misconduct for a pattern of 'over familiar' and 'inappropriate' behaviour.
Thames Valley Police Sergeant David Brenchley, based in Kidlington, has been dismissed and barred from the force after being found guilty of multiple instances of inappropriate behaviour, including sexualised comments and homophobic remarks, made to multiple different colleagues.
The sergeant, who joined the force in 2003 and was promoted in 2013, had been deployed to multiple high-profile policing events as a Licensed Search Officer Team Leader, including the G7 Summit in Cornwall in 2021 and President Donald Trump's state visit to Scotland last year.
Allegations found proven against him during these deployments found 'a pattern of inappropriate sexualised comments said in the presence of or towards junior colleagues', the misconduct panel said.
The first of these was in 2021, when he engaged in 'over familiar' physical contact with a junior female colleague in a bar by putting his arm around her waist and hip, which 'made her feel uncomfortable and shocked' as she had never met him before.
In WhatsApp messages the junior officer sent to her boyfriend during the deployment, she described Brenchley as a ‘gross letchy perv’, ‘a massive douche’ and ‘creepy to all the girls'.
Multiple allegations from junior officers then arose from the sergeant's deployment to Scotland in 2025, where he was the team leader for 14 Licensed Search Officers.
This included 'inappropriately sexualised' comments to both female juniors and an openly gay junior officer, who understood the comments to be homophobic in nature.
From the beginning of the deployment, when a female officer said she was taking a nap on the minibus during the long journey to Scotland, the sergeant said: "It’s funny the things you don’t like as a child that you come to love as an adult, naps… spanking."
Once arrived, he then gave an 'inappropriate' briefing to the junior officers, in which he said: "What happens on tour stays on tour; if people were going to sleep with each other then it is fine but don't cause any issues."
He made a sexual innuendo when offering a female junior officer a Cadbury's chocolate finger biscuit, and showed her a 'meme' referring inappropriately to 'ruffie' or date rape drug flunitrazepam.
Two separate allegations of 'inappropriately sexualised' and homophobic comments to a gay junior college were found proven, including referring to a metal bolt sticking out of temporary flooring at an event site, and saying: 'We just need a short homo to come and sit on it’.
In the weeks before the deployment to Scotland, the officer received Reflective Practice and sexual harassment training following an allegation of physical contact with a woman.
A misconduct panel found eight allegations which impacted five separate junior colleagues proven at a hearing on August 19, and despite his long service and character references, he was dismissed without notice and placed on the College of Policing barred list.
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