British police culture: Why family of officer Ricky Jones leaked his text messages

In a group chat with other officers, retired policeman Ricky Jones joked about sexual harassment and how he wanted to kill his wife. Photos / Supplied

Warning: Contains graphic content about abuse and suicide

The family of a retired British police officer have explained why they decided to share the vile messages they discovered on his phone after his death.

Ricky Jones, 52, took his own life two years ago. After his death, his family discovered a slew of misogynistic, racist and homophobic messages on his phone, which they decided to make public.

In messages shared with The Sunday Times last month, Jones, who spent two decades as a police officer in southeast Wales, discussed the sexual harassment of junior female colleagues, made racist and homophobic comments, and spoke violently about his wife – including joking that he would kill her with “shovel hands”.

An investigation into Gwent Police, spurred on in part by Ricky Jones’s messages, has resulted in several officers leaving the unit or being banned from policing countrywide. Photo / Google Maps

Now, his widow has revealed why she decided to make the messages public.

Sharon*, 55, told local news outlets this week that Jones was abusive during their relationship.

He would dictate every aspect of her life and the lives of their three daughters, down to controlling what they ate and how much toilet paper they could use. Sharon felt “trapped”, she said, as her husband persuaded her not to go to the police – his colleagues.

Sharon told Wales Online: “I remember one day going to him and telling him that I was going to report him to the police.

“He came downstairs the next day, because I always slept on the sofa, and told me, ‘Don’t bother going into the police station because I’ve been in and I sorted it. I’ve been and I’ve told them to expect you coming in and not to believe the words you say.’

“I felt that he’d always got the upper hand, that he could always outsmart me and always do something to me,” she added.

Sharon and her daughter are now calling for authorities to create a new body to support people who are abused by police officers.

“I believe I’m not the only one,” she told Sky UK. “There must be lots and lots of women out there that want to do something and are too frightened … it could be a woman in Scotland, it could be a woman in Liverpool, it could be somebody who is suffering the same as me out there.”

An investigation into the allegations surrounding Gwent Police was launched earlier this year, spurred on in part by Sharon’s campaigning. Several officers have left the force as a result, while some have been banned from policing countrywide.

Nazir Afzal, the former chief crown prosecutor for northwest England, has been supporting Jones’s family and said he had serious concerns about the police culture Jones appeared to represent.

“These are industrial levels of abuse, racism and potential corruption,” he told The Times in their original report.

“Given how this came to light by complete chance, clearly this leaves us with the terrible thought that this is prevalent everywhere. There needs to be a public inquiry into police culture nationally – it requires a wholesale root and branch approach.”

* Name changed for privacy reasons.