Married top cop broke lockdown to 'go jogging' - but he was having sex with rookie half his age

Daniel Greenwood headed West Yorkshire Police’s Covid enforcement team - but he breached the rules himself to have sex with probationary officer Caitlin Howarth

A married police chief superintendent, who had sex with a rookie PC almost half his age, has resigned from the force.

Disgraced Daniel Greenwood, who headed West Yorkshire Police’s Covid enforcement team, breached lockdown rules to have sex with Caitlin Howarth after he went jogging.

Probationary officer Caitlin met Greenwood in March 2020 - her mother was secretary at a school where he was a governor - and he helped her join the force and pushed through her application.

His misconduct came to light when Caitlin, now 24, started a sexual relationship with a drug dealer she met via Tinder. Greenwood, 41, of Bingley, West Yorkshire, accepted allegations of gross misconduct between March 2019 and November 2021 at a police disciplinary hearing today and resigned from the force.

Caitlin, who has already resigned from West Yorkshire Police, faces a future disciplinary hearing. She was referred to as Miss A during the hearing.

John Beggs KC, bringing the case against Greenwood, said he had joined the MoD in 2003 before transferring to West Midlands Police the following year and then the West Yorkshire force in January 2006.

He gained fast promotion until he was made chief superintendent in March 2020, where he was silver commander for the force’s response to the Covid pandemic and lockdown rules.

In the summer of 2020, texts between Greenwood and Miss A ‘became flirtatious and openly sexual in nature’. Miss A told him she was attracted to older men and that she wanted to leave her boyfriend, with whom she shared a flat, the hearing was told.

Mr Begg said:”Miss A was 20 and not yet a probationer constable. Daniel Greenwood was a chief superintendent aged 37. The disparity in age and status was stark.”

In September 2020 Greenwood escorted Miss A to a medical appointment and later that month they had a clothed ‘sexual activity’ at her parents’ house. He also attended her uniform fitting and in November he kissed her whilst she was out walking her dog in the Bingley area.

In December he helped Miss A pass a police exam. During the January 2021 Covid lockdown, Greenwood was on duty and working from home when he went jogging and visited Miss A at her flat, where they had sexual intercourse for the first time.
Mr Beggs stated this breached the Covid regulations.

“Daniel Greenwood knew very well that to attend Miss A’s home address for sexual activity would be in breach of the law and plainly not acceptable,” he said.

Greenwood also picked up new police trousers for Miss A and dropped them off with her mother. He also bought her green tea and dropped them off to her at a Bradford police station, where he also offered her his personal Chief Superintendent’s parking spot.

In July 2021 Greenwood visited Miss A’s new apartment, which she shared with her boyfriend, and had sexual intercourse with her for a second time.

He again had been on a run from his home and it was by mutual arrangement. Miss A’s fellow probationary officers noted Greenwood helping her during training, and in March Miss A confessed to colleagues during a drinking game that she’d had sex with the superior officer.

In September 2021, Miss A engaged in a sexual relationship with drug dealer Joseph Shaw after he contacted her on Tinder, which Greenwood became aware of. Neither Miss A nor Greenwood informed professional standards.

Flirtatious texts between Greenwood and Miss A continued into November until Shaw was arrested for supplying class A drugs on November 2. Miss A was arrested later that same day on suspicion of passing information to her drug dealing boyfriend.

After learning Miss A had been arrested, Greenwood wiped his mobile phone, but his wrongdoing was discovered by West Yorkshire Police. Mr Beggs told the hearing that Greenwood had struggled with alcohol for 10 years and has addictive personality traits. Joseph Shaw was jailed for six and a half years in January, last year, for the supply of class A drugs.

Miss A resigned from the force in April last year. A criminal case against her was dropped by the CPS earlier this week. West Yorkshire Police stated:”The case against a former West Yorkshire Police student officer has been discontinued by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

“Caitlin Howarth, 24, who worked in Bradford, was previously charged with Misconduct in a Public Office. The CPS has now advised that they are offering no evidence, meaning that she has been acquitted of the charge. Ms Howarth has resigned from the force. She remains the subject of a misconduct investigation.”

Mitigating for Greenwood, Hugh Davies KC, told the hearing at West Yorkshire Police’s HQ, in Wakefield that the former chief superintendent accepts gross misconduct. He recognises that his police career is ended and a different chapter must begin both for him and his family,” said Mr Davies.

He said Greenwood had been promoted rapidly through the ranks and he’d had the potential to become a chief officer, ‘that has gone now, obviously’.

Greenwood was described as a ‘high functioning alcoholic’ who is addicted to exercise. He was ‘not fit’ to give evidence in the disciplinary hearing.

Mr Davies said Greenwood’s wife has had recent medical problems but she and their children continue to support her husband. He wants to rebuild for them, as they have for him, in the last thee years.”