Lancashire Constabulary condemn actions of former police officer who tried to murder a woman in Manchester hotel

At approximately 11:30pm on Thursday 10 November last year officers from Greater Manchester Police responded to reports of an incident at a hotel on Brook Street in the city centre.

Emergency services attended the scene and found a woman in her 20’s who was unresponsive. She had sustained life-threatening injuries and was taken to hospital.

James Riley, 27, an off-duty Lancashire officer, was arrested and subsequently charged with attempted murder.

He admitted the offence when he appeared at Manchester Crown Court, on Tuesday 07 November.

Riley, of Jepps Avenue, will be sentenced on January 12.

Lancashire’s Deputy Chief Constable Sacha Hatchett said: “People will quite rightly be shocked and appalled to hear the detail of James Riley’s crime. It is utterly abhorrent that a police officer should act in this way.

“Riley’s behaviour clearly fell very far short of what we demand of our officers and staff, both on and off duty. The vast majority of our staff are honest, hard-working people who just want to serve their communities, but when our employees fall below the standards we and the public expect and erode the trust we depend upon to police effectively and with legitimacy we will always act. 

“Riley was immediately suspended from duty and our Professional Standards Department immediately launched an investigation into his conduct, which ran alongside the criminal investigation conducted by Greater Manchester Police. The investigation by our Professional Standards Department, assisted by Greater Manchester Police, led to an accelerated misconduct hearing which took place on 30th January 2023 where James Riley was dismissed from the force without notice. He was added to the College of Policing barred list, which means he will no longer be eligible to be employed or appointed into policing.

“Lancashire Constabulary is committed to tackling all forms of domestic abuse, safeguarding victims, and holding perpetrators of domestic abuse to account for their behaviour and crimes. It goes without saying that we will absolutely not tolerate any evidence of domestic abuse offending by any of our officers or staff and will hold them to account both criminally and through our internal misconduct processes. We hope that the prompt action taken by our Professional Standards Department in dismissing this officer swiftly, prior to the conclusion of the criminal investigation, shows our commitment to tackling any allegations of this type against a serving police officer.

“We utterly condemn the actions of former officer James Riley, and our thoughts are with the victim and those affected by this extremely serious and concerning crime.”