Scott Campbell
Introduction
Scott Campbell is a former Durham Police constable who has been barred from working in policing after a disciplinary panel found he engaged in “targeted and sexualised behaviour” toward a female colleague. A four-day gross misconduct hearing at The Glow Centre in Newton Aycliffe, held from October 12 to 15, examined eight allegations concerning Campbell’s behaviour toward two female colleagues between March and September 2023. The panel found all eight factual allegations proved, ruled that his behaviour toward one woman was “unwanted, sexualised, targeted and intentional,” and concluded the proven breaches β Authority, Respect and Courtesy, and Discreditable Conduct β amounted to gross misconduct. Campbell would have been dismissed without notice had he still been a serving officer; instead, his name will be added to the College of Policing Barred List, preventing him from returning to policing.
Background Information
Campbell served as a constable with Durham Constabulary before leaving the force; the misconduct proceedings that ended his eligibility to return concerned his conduct at work toward colleagues, not his policing of the public. The allegations spanned a six-month window β March to September 2023 β and involved two female colleagues. The panel’s findings distinguished between them: toward one woman, Campbell’s behaviour was found to be “unwanted, sexualised, targeted and intentional,” violating her dignity and creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment; a separate incident involving a second female colleague was also found to be inappropriate, although the panel did not establish a breach of the Standards of Professional Behaviour in relation to her. The hearing was chaired by Assistant Chief Constable Richard Allen, sitting with independent panel members Stan Irwin and Jake Miller, with legally qualified person Peter Cadman assisting. The Northern Echo reported the outcome in November 2026.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Found grossly misconducted; would have been dismissed. The panel proved all eight allegations, assessed the breaches as gross misconduct, and barred Campbell from policing β the dismissal-equivalent outcome available against a former officer.
The hearing’s findings set out the conduct in the panel’s own words. Campbell’s behaviour toward one female colleague was found to be “unwanted, sexualised, targeted and intentional”; the panel ruled his actions “violated her dignity and created an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.” He was also found to have failed to exercise self-control and to have failed to treat the woman with courtesy and respect. All eight factual allegations were found proved, and the panel ruled Campbell had breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour relating to Authority, Respect and Courtesy and Discreditable Conduct, with the proven breaches assessed as gross misconduct. In reaching its decision, the panel considered “the targeted, intentional and persistent nature of the conduct and the harm caused to public confidence in policing,” alongside Campbell’s service record and the personal mitigation presented on his behalf. The outcome β that he would have been dismissed without notice had he still been serving, and the barred-list referral β is the police discipline system’s formal answer to that conduct.
The published record does not include any statement from Campbell responding to the findings, and no criminal proceedings arising from the conduct have been reported; the case stands as an adjudicated police-discipline matter, not a court conviction.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The case was publicised through the force outcome and The Northern Echo’s report, which headlined the panel’s own characterisation β a former officer barred after “sexualised behaviour” toward a colleague. The consequences are structural rather than reputational alone: the College of Policing Barred List entry prevents Campbell from being employed by any force in England and Wales, and the panel’s published reasoning tied its severity to “the harm caused to public confidence in policing.” The findings against a constable whose conduct toward colleagues over six months of 2023 was proved “targeted, intentional and persistent” place the case in the same record as the barred-list cases forces now routinely publish, in which the officer’s departure from the force does not end the disciplinary process. For the two women involved, one of whose treatment the panel found had created a “degrading” and “offensive” working environment, the outcome is the system’s formal recognition of what the panel called a violation of her dignity.
Current Status
Campbell is a former officer whose name is being added to the College of Policing Barred List following the October 2026 hearing, ending any prospect of his returning to policing. The gross misconduct findings are final at the hearing level; no appeal by Campbell has been reported, and no associated criminal case exists in the public record. Durham Constabulary’s disciplinary outcome β dismissal-equivalent findings against a man no longer on its books β closes the case that began with complaints about his behaviour toward two colleagues in 2023.
Impact on Their Career/Life
The barred-list decision ends Campbell’s policing career permanently: a constable whose service record and mitigation the panel says it weighed, but whose conduct toward a female colleague it found sexualised, targeted and persistent over six months, cannot now be employed by any Home Office force. The financial and professional cost of leaving the force before the hearing β the path officers take that converts a dismissal into a barred-list entry β is the case’s clearest personal consequence. The colleague at the centre of the findings, in the panel’s words, worked through an environment made “intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive” by a fellow officer’s unwanted sexualised attention; the barred list is the framework’s remedy for exactly that harm, and Campbell’s name on it is the public record the case leaves behind.
Sources
- “The Northern Echo: Former officer barred after ‘sexualised behaviour’ towards colleague” source