A former Warwickshire Police detective has been added to a register that prevents him from ever serving as an officer again. Ex-Detective Constable John Littlewood dispatched more than 300 communications to a woman he encountered during inquiries into a sexual offence concerning her daughter. Littlewood served with the force’s child abuse, trafficking and exploitation unit and confessed to one charge of improper exercise of police powers and privileges. He received an eight-month custodial sentence, suspended for 15 months, and was directed to complete 100 hours of unpaid community work. He appeared before a Warwickshire Police misconduct panel on April 17 and was determined to have fallen short of police professional standards concerning authority, respect and courtesy; honesty and integrity; duties and responsibilities and conduct. The panel established that DC Littlewood would have been dismissed immediately had he not already departed the force. He will now be entered onto the barred list. An Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation uncovered that he had exchanged hundreds of communications, many of a sexual nature, with the woman he encountered through one of his investigations. Derrick Campbell, IOPC Director, explained that DC Littlewood was serving in the public protection unit during these allegations and consequently had access to vulnerable women. He occupied a position of trust. He violated that position by displaying predatory conduct and pursuing an improper relationship. The IOPC investigation established that Littlewood encountered the woman, who remains unidentified and is designated as Female X, in October 2021 when he was tasked with investigating a report of sexual assault against her daughter. Between May and September 2023 investigators discovered he exchanged more than 300 communications with the woman, including many of an inappropriate character. One communication from Littlewood indicated that if she was careless with his messages and did not delete them, she could cause him serious problems at work. CCTV surveillance and cell site analysis of his phone indicated he met the woman at a Coventry hotel in the early hours of October 1 2023 for approximately 50 minutes. Littlewood also made regular visits to Female X’s residence which prompted a support worker to report suspicions to Warwickshire Police’s Professional Standards Department. Mr Campbell further explained that Female X was in a vulnerable situation when she was manipulated by DC Littlewood. He encountered her while performing his duties and exploited that contact to initiate a friendship which resulted in inappropriate communication including sexualised messages. The officer was aware his conduct was improper as he instructed her to remove messages, some of which were dispatched while working, because they would cause him problems at his job. Police professional standards explicitly state that officers must never exploit their position to establish or pursue improper relationships with any victims, witnesses, offenders or other vulnerable individuals and must never engage in inappropriate communication. Littlewood underwent an integrity health check on 18 September 2023 confirming he understood the Code of Ethics and Professional Boundaries. Nevertheless, investigators discovered he exchanged hundreds of communications with her and it is evident he erased many more.