A former police officer has been sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of sexual assaulting police cadets.
Adnan Ali carried out the abuse between 2015 and 2018 on Greater Manchester Police’s (GMP) volunteer cadet scheme.
The 36-year-old was found guilty in April of five counts of sexual assault and 15 counts of misconduct in a public office.
He was arrested and suspended in 2018 after a complaint that he had been behaving inappropriately towards a 16-year-old boy.
The charges related to incidents involving both young women and young men.
Electronic devices were seized following Ali’s arrest, with officers finding thousands of messages and identifying further victims.
The Manchester force said his DNA was also found in sexual bodily fluids on a police office carpet.
“PC Ali engaged in sexual activity on police premises in an area that was periodically used by young apprentices and cadets,” said Chief Constable Stephen Watson .
“This was a fundamental breach of the public’s trust in police officers and inevitably brings the profession into disrepute.”
Ali was sacked after being found guilty of gross misconduct in April 2022 and GMP is taking action to remove his pension.
Senior officers for the force have admitted more could have been done to supervise him but that action is ongoing to “ensure predatory employees are rooted and booted out”.
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Speaking after the conviction, the head of its professional standards branch, Chief Superintendent Mike Allen, said Ali represented the “very worst and the minority in policing”.
“He is among a very small percentage who discredit the police service and undermine trust and confidence in it,” added Mr Allen.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct said the case had shown “serious failings” in the way GMP cadet schemes were managed.
However, it said it welcomed “a range of steps taken” to improve supervision of officers working on the courses.
