Former Great Manchester police officer gets nine years in prison for sexually abusing child on duty

A police officer who sexually assaulted a six-year-old girl on duty has been sentenced to prison.

Dean Dempster, 35, from Manchester, attacked the child while responding to a domestic disturbance while on duty in Oldham on December 29, 2023.

The investigation also revealed that he had superimposed his face over images of child abuse.

On Wednesday, Dempster was sentenced to nine years in prison at Liverpool Crown Court.

He was one of three officers who responded to the disturbance involving an adult and children.

While caring for the vulnerable young girl, away from colleagues, he sexually abused her.

A complaint was received that evening and the next morning Dempster was confronted by his supervisor and arrested the same day.

Searches found children’s underwear and abuse images

It later became clear that Dempster had deleted material and apps from his mobile phone on the morning of his arrest.

A search of the home turned up another phone, a bundle of four children’s underwear, shredded underwear in a bag, a disk with images and two hard drives.

An examination of Dempster’s devices revealed another offence: making indecent images of children. He pleaded guilty to six charges, including two of the most serious category A charges – involving 104 images, 30 of which were described as pseudo-images.

In addition, there were 440 category B images, including 129 pseudoimages, and 2,472 category C images, including 39 pseudoimages.

A large number of the pseudo-images had been digitally altered to overlay Dempster with children.

The investigation into the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officer also uncovered other images on his phone, taken with his body-worn camera in the December 2023 incident of a second child, and another clothed child in a separate incident dating back to 2022.

In connection with this, he pleaded guilty to two counts of misconduct in public office.

‘Dempster represents the very worst of society’

GMP added that it had dismissed Dempster at the “first legal opportunity” in May this year and that he has been banned from policing since.

He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life.

Terry Woods, deputy chief constable of GMP, said: ‘I am angry and shocked by this appalling abuse of responsibility and trust.

“Dempster represents the very worst part of society. He is not a police officer; he is a child molester, a criminal, and he has no right to be near a police uniform or serve the public.”

Police added that they had reviewed thousands of hours of Dempster’s previous deployments to GMP and found no further evidence of criminal behavior, but asked anyone involved in the case to contact them.