A serving Essex Police detective sergeant has been dismissed without notice after an accelerated misconduct hearing found he secretly planted a force-issued mobile phone in a colleague’s private office and used it to remotely listen to conversations inside Harlow Police Station.
The hearing, held on 22nd December 2025, proceeded in the absence of Detective Sergeant Nicholas Riley after he failed to engage with the process. The panel heard he had been notified of the allegations, had been directly ordered to attend, and nevertheless chose not to. By the time of the hearing, Riley had also resigned, with his final date of service requested as 7th January 2026.
The Appropriate Authority (AA) alleged that, on a date in or around February 2025, Riley concealed an Essex Police mobile phone under the desk of Person A in their private office at Harlow Police Station. It was alleged he did so for one purpose: to remotely listen to private conversations taking place in that office.
Phone data placed Riley’s personal mobile phone repeatedly dialling his work device while it was hidden in Person A’s office. Between February and April 2025, there were said to be 59 calls between the two phones during the period the concealed work device remained in place. In the two weeks leading up to its discovery, several of the calls were of striking length, including one lasting more than eight hours, and others running for multiple hours at a time across consecutive days.
The panel heard that, on each of the dates highlighted, Riley was on duty and present inside Harlow Police Station, and Person A was also on duty and present. The implication put forward was that Riley used duty time to listen in, rather than to carry out police work.
The phone was discovered on 15th April 2025. On that same day, Riley was on duty and in the company of Person B when Person A rang Person B and asked to speak to Riley on loudspeaker. When confronted about the concealed phone, Riley was said to have told Person A that he had placed it there as he did not trust them, and that he believed Person A wanted him moved to a different team, or words to that effect.
Three Standards of Professional Behaviour were found to be engaged: honesty and integrity, confidentiality, and discreditable conduct. The panel concluded that a police-issued device is provided for policing purposes, and that concealing it in a colleague’s office to enable covert listening was a fundamental misuse that undermined integrity. The confidentiality breach was treated as especially serious because the private office was also used by Person B for counselling sessions, raising the prospect that deeply personal and sensitive conversations may have been overheard.
The panel noted that Riley would have had to dial into the concealed device each time, and that, as a detective sergeant in a supervisory role, he occupied a position of trust and responsibility. The panel also stated that he would have known the behaviour was criminal in nature, yet proceeded regardless.
No mitigation was advanced on Riley’s behalf. There were no admissions presented to the panel, and nothing was put forward by a federation representative.
The panel concluded that the only outcome deemed appropriate was dismissal without notice. Riley will also be added to the College of Policing barred list.
