Disgraced police chief who resigned over sex with rookie officer will face no further action for setting up as cheesemonger while he was suspended but still being paid £103,000 a year

A disgraced former police chief who resigned after an affair with a glam rookie cop will face no further action for founding a cheese-making business while suspended.

Chief Superintendent Daniel Greenwood, 41, was pulled from active duty after pursuing a relationship with ex-student officer PC Caitlin Howarth who is 17 years his junior. 

But during this period of suspension, where he was still paid his £103,000 annual salary, it emerged he had become the director of Eldwick Creamery.

A hearing into his action later concluded Greenwood, who had admitted gross misconduct, would have been sacked had he not earlier resigned.

Now, West Yorkshire Police have confirmed that he will not be punished for setting up the dairy-based business, which specialises in limited-batch brie.

They said in a statement: ‘Allegations of gross misconduct were proven against the former officer in September, and a panel ruled that he would be dismissed from the force if he hadn’t already resigned. Therefore, no further action will be taken.’

Greenwood resigned from the force just hours before his police misconduct hearing in September.

The disciplinary hearing was due to hear evidence that he had abused his position to have sex with a 21-year-old probationary officer.

The accusations also stated the pair had exchanged explicit videos and messages while on duty.

Howarth, who regularly posts glam photos on social media to her 10,000 followers, has already quit the force and faces a future disciplinary hearing of her own. 

Greenwood’s misconduct came to light after Howarth, now 24, went on dates with a drug dealer she met on Tinder named Joseph Shaw. 

Used car salesman Shaw, 29, who previously appeared on First Dates, was jailed in January 2023.

He was sentenced to six and a half years behind bars after admitting a drug plot with his brother Daniel, 25.

Howarth was arrested over her links to Shaw and was due to face trial in York next year charged with misconduct in public office.

But in September, the Crown Prosecution Service said criminal proceedings had been halted. 

She is still the subject of a police misconduct investigation.

Greenwood resigned from his 20-year career on the same day criminal charges were dropped against Howarth.

The pair had sex in January 2021, while Greenwood was in charge of Bradford’s COVID response, and again that July.

They met when Greenwood helped her apply for a job with the force and they exchanged sexually explicit pictures for more than a year.

The fling between the pair caused ‘tittle-tattle and gossip in the ranks’ and he tried to carry out a factory reset on his iPhone in a bid to conceal the evidence, the misconduct panel was told.

In an opening note, John Beggs KC said: ‘An officer of Greenwood’s experience, service and rank knew – or ought reasonably to have known – that his sexual dalliances with this probationer were bound to bring discredit upon the police service.

‘Greenwood’s motivations for helping Miss A with her application to join West Yorkshire Police morphed, at least in part, into sexual self-interest.’

The misconduct hearing, held at force headquarters in Wakefield, heard Greenwood met Miss A after being introduced by her mother, who was a governor at his children’s primary school.

He agreed to help her apply for a job in the police force in December 2019.

But after meeting in person in March 2020, the pair swapped flirty messages and sexually explicit pictures over the summer.

Miss A told investigators: ‘He always asked me to delete the messages. I think he deleted them so that his wife didn’t see. ‘

The panel was told Greenwood admitted exchanging sexually explicit messages but ‘believed she was mature and had adult capacity to engage in a sexual relationship with him’.

Mr Beggs said their relationship was ‘obviously inappropriate’ given their respective status.

In was told that in October 2020, Greenwood turned up at her parent’s house and the pair had ‘consensual dressed sexual activity’, a month before she officially joined the force.

The panel was told that during a national Covid lockdown in January 2021, Greenwood breached regulations to visit Miss A’s flat – which she shared with her boyfriend – for sex while on duty.

Mr Beggs said: ‘Greenwood knew very well that to attend Miss A’s home address for sexual activity would be in breach of the law and plainly not acceptable.’

Greenwood then turned up to her new flat in July that year for sex, the panel was told.

Miss A told investigators: ‘I think it only ever came about because I was going through a rough time with my boyfriend and he was giving me attention for quite a few months.

‘After a few months of speaking to him… I ended up getting feelings.’

The panel was told matters began to unravel when Greenwood advised Miss A she did not need to give reasons for applying for annual leave.

She then revealed this advice to a senior officer, who asked Greenwood what he knew of her circumstances.

Mr Beggs said Greenwood ‘began to appreciate the trouble he had brought upon himself’ and he searched online if police could recover iPhone data.

Miss A then turned to Greenwood for advice entering a relationship with Joseph Shaw, whose brother Daniel was in prison at the time.

Both Joseph and Daniel Shaw were later jailed for their roles in an operation to supply large quantities of Class A drugs in Bradford.

Greenwood told her to fill in a notifiable association form, adding: ‘Always here if you want to talk.’

In October, Miss A was on a date with Joseph Shaw when she showed him a photograph taken from a crime scene that showed laundry bags full of heroin.

Greenwood was suspended by superiors in November 2021, a day after Miss A was arrested for not disclosing her relationship to Shaw.

The ex-officer, whose wife is undergoing treatment for cancer, was not present at the hearing, but admitted gross misconduct.

Representing Greenwood, Hugh Davies KC told the hearing he suffered post-traumatic stress and was not fit to give evidence.

He said: ‘A highly promising police career has ended. Many perceived he had the potential to become a chief officer. That is all now gone.

‘Behind the high achievements at work is a complex personality with addictive characteristics.

‘This manifested historically as alcohol addiction throughout his career. He could be characterised as being a high functioning alcoholic.’

Howarth was due to face a trial in York next year charged with misconduct in a public office.

But the Crown Prosecution Service said criminal proceedings had been halted and that no evidence would be offered.