A former Kent Police sergeant has been made subject to a five-year sexual risk order after a judge ruled he stripped naked in a public park for sexual gratification.
Simon Ince, 52, was found naked in woodland near a children’s play area off Vale Drive in Chatham in February 2024, Medway Magistrates’ Court heard.
Members of the public reported seeing him in the nude on two consecutive days in Horsted Valley nature reserve. Pictures later showed him without clothes in an area close to the park, before police officers arrived and detained him.
This follows earlier action taken against Ince over the same incident, after Kent Police dismissed him at a fast-track misconduct hearing. The latest court order means he is now banned from removing his underwear or urinating in public, except in a toilet, and from entering the Horsted Valley nature reserve. If he breaches the order, he could face up to five years in prison.
Ince insisted he had been jogging and had only taken his clothes off to cool down and wring out sweat from them. He told the court he would strip off to do stretches and then put his clothes back on once they had dried.
But Judge Roy Brown rejected that explanation, ruling that Ince had acted for sexual gratification and “enjoyed the thrill of doing it outdoors”.
The judge said he was in “no doubt whatsoever” that Ince had committed sexual acts on at least four occasions, including incidents in August and September 2023 as well as two occasions in February 2024.
Police found images on Ince’s phone showing him naked in the same area months earlier, including footage of him masturbating there, the court heard.
Ince claimed the images were intended for his partner, but the judge found his account unconvincing and described his evidence as “evasive and untruthful”.
The court heard that when police arrested him, Ince told officers: “I have not waved my willy,” and claimed he had only stepped out of sight to urinate.
Body-worn footage showed officers chasing him through the park before he told them: “I know, I’m a police officer,” after being informed he was under arrest.
The judge said Ince had shown a harmful pattern of behaviour and remained in denial about the sexual element of his actions. Although he had taken steps to address mental health issues and alcohol use, the court found he had done nothing to address what the judge described as his sexual misbehaviour.
Kent Police said the public would expect high standards from officers and that Ince had betrayed that trust.