Police chief accused of making lewd remarks is found hanged at his home



Probe: Deputy Chief Constable David Ainsworth was facing up to 24 allegations of making bawdy remarks to fellow officers and staff at Wiltshire Police

A police chief being investigated over claims he made a string of ‘bawdy’ remarks to female colleagues was found hanged at his home.

David Ainsworth, the £110,000-a-year Deputy Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police, was removed from normal duties in September last year after up to 24 allegations were made against him.

The 49-year-old father of four, who was separated from his wife, was found dead in the garage of his home yesterday morning.

A neighbour told of hearing Mr Ainsworth’s girlfriend scream ‘he’s hanged himself, he’s hanged himself’ after finding his body.

Senior colleagues stressed that Mr Ainsworth, renowned for his fierce intellect, had not been facing any criminal charges over the allegations.

However it is thought likely he would have to face a police disciplinary tribunal and possibly forced to give evidence in any employment tribunal proceedings brought by his accusers, most of whom were female officers.

The investigation into his conduct began after a complaint from a woman employee at Wiltshire Police.

Among the claims were allegations that Mr Ainsworth looked at a woman wearing a tailored blouse and remarked ‘nice buttons’.

A number of other accusers are said to have come ‘out of the woodwork’ and the investigation recently spread to his previous force, Kent Police.

It is understood a junior officer and civilian worker there claimed Mr Ainsworth had made ‘minor’ inappropriate remarks to them.

Now an outside force is to be called in to investigate whether Mr Ainsworth was given adequate emotional support as the career-threatening accusations against him were examined.

Mr Ainsworth joined the Wiltshire force in 2008 after 22 years with Kent Police. In 2002 he headed a police task force for the Home Secretary on reducing bureaucracy. He was also the Association of Chief Police Officers’ spokesman on vehicle crime.

But his hopes of one day becoming a chief constable suffered a huge blow last September after allegations of sexist behaviour surfaced.



Brian Moore, the no-nonsense chief constable of Wiltshire Police, called in South Wales Police to investigate Mr Ainsworth’s conduct.

He was switched to a temporary job at the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham pending the outcome of the inquiry, which was led by one of Britain’s top female officers, Colette Paul, the deputy chief constable of the South Wales force.

Mr Ainsworth was found hanged at a cottage he shared with his girlfriend in the picturesque village of Potterne near Devizes, Wiltshire, shortly after 9am yesterday.

Neighbour Tracey Mead, 40, said she heard the woman screaming for help and called an ambulance.

‘I saw the woman walking up the lane at the back of my house which was unusual at that time in the morning,’ she said.

‘Maybe she was looking for him. It was so awful for his partner to find him.’

Good career: While at Kent Police Force, he took on a number of roles, including Head of the Force Inspectorate, Area Commander at North Kent and Head of the Force Communications Centre

She said the couple had lived in the brick cottage for at least a year.

Last night Mr Ainsworth’s estranged wife Emma was unavailable for comment at the couple’s home near Maidstone. Callers at the £400,000 five-bedroom detached house in the Kent village of Coxheath were told to contact police headquarters.

Mr Ainsworth had lived at the house with his wife until he left in the summer of 2008 to take up his new post with the Wiltshire force.

The couple married in 1991 and have four children – three teenage daughters and a 12-year-old son.

Last night a Wiltshire Police spokesman said: ‘We can confirm that Deputy Chief Constable David Ainsworth was found dead at his home this morning.

‘Our thoughts are very much with David’s family and friends as they come to terms with the sad news.

‘David’s death is not being treated as suspicious at this time.’

A spokesman for Wiltshire Police Authority confirmed that Mr Ainsworth had been taken off his ‘normal duties’ after the allegations about his ‘bawdy’ behaviour surfaced last September, but said he was still operating as a serving police officer.

The Authority said he had been working on ‘collaboration projects’ and had ‘retained his ACPO lead on vehicle crime’.

Details of the allegations Mr Ainsworth faced are likely to be revealed at an inquest into his death.



Were you a victim of Mr Ainsworth's allegedly inappropriate conduct? Or do you know someone who was? If so, please contact in confidence news@dailymail.co.uk

