By David Young-
A police officer has been spared jail after he subjected a woman he met on duty to a campaign of harassment.
Jonathan Stanway,44,(pictured) began dating the woman after meeting her while he was on duty in May 2021.
After she ended the relationship he repeatedly visited her home, sometimes while on duty, causing her to move house in an attempt to avoid him.
Simon also left her messages and voicemails, despite the woman telling him she did not want to see him anymore, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard.
In one incident, Simon enlisted the help of a fellow Met officer to target the woman and he used a work phone number to try to call her.
On another occasion, a colleague of his knocked on the door and when the complainant opened the door they stepped aside and the complainant saw Simon, the court heard.
The woman said she had been left feeling “helpless, weak and scared” when Simon insisted on speaking to her alone.
She left him voice notes trying to end the contact, but Simon turned up at her home again and was seen loitering outside by a neighbour, pretending to be investigating an unsecure window.
Simon, a police officer for ten years who received a Commendation for his work tackling drug dealing in Ilford, was handed a 16-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, with 200 hours of community service and 25 days in rehab.
He must wear a GPS monitoring tag for the next six months, and has been banned from contacting the woman under the terms of a restraining order. He was also ordered to pay £900 in costs.
The court heard Simon, who was part of the East Area Command Unit, now faces dismissal from the Met following his conviction for stalking at trial last month.
At Westminster magistrates court on Tuesday, District Judge Daniel Sternberg said Simon had been “the very opposite of a positive role model” and had forced the woman to move home to get away from him.
The force said PC Jonathan Simon subjected the victim to a “campaign of harassment” before he was arrested in July last year.
At Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (April 4), PC Simon, who was attached to the East Area Command Unit, received a 16-week sentence, suspended for two years. This follows his conviction on Friday, March 17.
The MPS said the officer will now face a misconduct hearing.
PC Simon was arrested on Monday, July 4, 2022, after repeatedly harassing the victim, who was known to him, between October 2021 and July 2022.
The MPS condemned his behaviour as “unwarranted, unwanted and causing significant concern to the victim”.
It is alleged he first met the woman when he was on duty in May 2021 and began a relationship with her, which she later ended.
He then made repeated visits to her home, some of which were while he was on duty, and left her messages and voicemails, despite having been told she did not want to see him anymore.
“In one instance he attended her home address and then her place of work and suggested her window was unsecured in an apparent bid to get her to speak to him,” the force said.
The 44-year-old visited the woman both at her home and her place of work during his stalking campaign, and ‘seriously abused’ the woman’s trust as a serving police officer. PC Simon, from Colchester, once even suggested to the ‘helpless’ and ‘scared’ woman, who is not being named, that she should turn to ‘sex work’ when she was plunged into financial hardship.
The court ALSO heard that between May and June 2022, Simon attended the woman’s address and asked her for a hug. He then groped the woman’s bottom and said “I’ve missed this.”
“You sent her a picture of clothing she could wear in her picture for an adult sex work website,” he said.
On another occasion, Simon put his hand on the victim’s face while visiting her property.
“You put your hands on her face, making her feel helpless, weak and scared,” added the judge.
The MPS’s Directorate of Professional Standards was informed and made a referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct. The matter was referred back to the MPS for investigation.
PC Simon was immediately suspended from duty following his arrest.
Misconduct proceedings will now follow, said the force.
District Judge Daniel Sternberg allowed Simon to walk free, suspending a 16 week prison sentence on Tuesday.
The judge referred to recent scandals that have engulfed the Met, including the Casey review which found institutionalised sexism, racism, and homophobia, adding that Simon had “brought the Metropolitan Police into disrepute”.
He also handed the shamed officer 25 days of rehabilitation activity requirement and ordered him to do 200 hours unpaid work.
The judge also ordered Simon not to contact the victim directly or indirectly.
Chief Superintendent Stuart Bell, responsible for policing in East Area Command Unit, said: “PC Simon’s behaviour was unwarranted, unwanted and caused significant concern to the victim.
“Our officers cannot behave like this and we will be proactive in identifying and taking positive action against those who do.
“Despite being repeatedly asked to stop he subjected the victim to a campaign of harassment which caused her considerable distress.
“He abused his position as a police officer and has now been dealt with by the courts.”