Former police worker jailed for having affair with convicted rapist under her supervision

A former Wiltshire Police staff member, Rachel Beale, has been sent to jail for having an affair with a convicted rapist whom she was assigned to supervise.

Beale, 53, was working as an offender manager for Wiltshire police's sexual and violent offenders' unit when the relationship began.

As a manager of the unit, Beale was required to look after 50 people and one of them was her lover Marc Few.

He was jailed for raping a woman in Wiltshire in 2003 and was put on the Sex Offenders Register for the rest of his life, and Beale was assigned to supervise Few after his release from prison.

The woman has now been charged with misconduct in public office and has been sentenced to six months' imprisonment by Bristol Crown Court.

She had resigned from her post and has also been banned from ever working for the police. She would have been sacked if she hadn't resigned already.

The matter first came to light in September 2020 and Beale was immediately suspended from duty, according to a report in The Guardian.

A probe was then carried out by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). It was her partner Jason Elliott who caught Beale and Few "cuddling." Beale later admitted to having a sexual relationship with Few between February and September 2020.

During the court hearing, it was also revealed that she would invite him home for drinks and to smoke cannabis.

Judge Peter Blair QC told Beale: "Those who abuse trust and responsibility must understand that it is inevitable a custodial sentence is the consequence if they act in the way you did."

Deputy Chief Constable Paul Mills welcomed the decision and said: "She betrayed the trust of the public, and betrayed the trust of her colleagues, when she blatantly abused her position to commit this crime."

"She was immediately suspended from duties when this matter was brought to our attention, and, once she had pleaded guilty in court we held an internal misconduct hearing, which resulted in her being dismissed from the Force," he added.