A POLICE officer “took advantage” of a drunk woman by touching her bottom and between the legs without consent while off-duty in a bar.

Former PC Remifiusz Serafin was found to have sexually assaulted a woman at Revolution Bar, in Leeds, on December 16, 2021.

A panel at a misconduct hearing on June 5 this year deemed that Serafin’s gross misconduct would have resulted in him being sacked without notice if he had still been serving as an officer.

Serafin was working for West Yorkshire Police in a Leeds and Bradford District Patrol team but had left the force by the time of the hearing.

The officer was on a night out and began dancing with a woman at 10.30pm in the bar, the panel heard.

She gave evidence in a video-recorded interview and said Serafin touched her bottom and she thought it was accidental at first.

But the former officer went on to pinch and slap her bottom, according to the victim.

A report from the hearing said: “After touching her bottom, PC Serafin was behind the woman when he reached around her front and touched her between her legs in the area of her vagina.

“The woman said she did not consent to the touching of her bottom or her vagina.”

She left the dancefloor and reported the situation to her friends.

Serafin admitted to touching the women’s bum in interview but said he believed she consented “because of the intimate way they were dancing together”.

He denied touching her on the vagina but did not attend the hearing and provided no contest of the allegation, or any mitigation.

The panel watched CCTV footage, which was not of good quality, and it showed the pair dancing in a “close and tactile” manner.

It showed Serafin stroking the woman’s bottom and then her putting her arms around his neck, but they were obscured by other people and furniture after that, so the alleged touching between the legs was not seen.

The panel decided that the woman’s account was more likely and accepted her evidence in regard to her being touched on the bottom and the genitals, as well as being satisfied she did not consent.

The report said it was a “memorable event” that caused the woman to leave the dancefloor and make an “immediate report” to her friends.

Putting her arms around Serafin’s neck did not amount to consent, according to the panel.

The report said: “The woman was drunk, and the panel was satisfied that she chose not to take issue with PC Serafin over the touch to her bottom and in her evidence, she thought the first such touch was accidental.

“In effect she chose to ignore it and to carry on dancing with him, but that decision did not amount to consent.

“The panel concluded that PC Serafin took advantage of the woman in her state of intoxication and the touching of her bottom was without consent.”

Serafin was arrested on the back of the allegation, on suspicion of sexual assault.

A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police revealed a criminal investigation took place and was taken to the CPS but it determined there was “insufficient evidence” to charge.

Serafin was released facing no further action in October 2022.

The misconduct panel was not tasked with deciding if Serafin was guilty of a criminal offence, namely sexual assault.

But it did find, “as an inescapable fact”, that the touching amounted to an assault and it was sexual.