A senior police trainer at Northumbria Police has been barred from the service after a misconduct panel found he subjected nine female recruits to "repeated and relentless" inappropriate behaviour, including having sex with one trainee and sending unsolicited messages to others. PC Peter Miller, who had more than 20 years' policing experience, was found to have exploited his position of authority to pursue sexual relationships with junior colleagues, leaving at least one recruit feeling "manipulated, upset and used". The case highlights concerns about the abuse of power over vulnerable new officers during their probationary training.

The disciplinary hearing in Houghton le Spring heard Miller called one recruit a "special girl", commented that another had "nice leggings" and invited trainees to his home, sometimes framing it as playing charades. He also contacted a recruit via a dating website and had sex with a student officer at his house on two occasions. Miller resigned last week, just before the panel could formally dismiss him, but it ruled he would have been sacked for gross misconduct and ordered his name added to the police barred list; he did not attend or contest the hearing, having previously described his conduct as merely "friendly" and consensual.