REDCAR EX-POLICE OFFICER CHARGED WITH CHILD SEX OFFENCES
A former police officer from the North East has been charged with alleged non-recent child sexual offences.Former PC Ian Hopkinson, 63, of Redcar, who worked for West Yorkshire Police, has been charged with five counts of indecent assault on a girl under the age of 16 years and five counts of rape of a female under 16 years.
He is one of two police officers who have been charged with child sex offences.
Both men, who were part of West Yorkshire Police, are due to appear at Leeds Magistrates Court on May 7 this year.
Police say a woman came forward in 2023 and reported being the victim of serious sexual offences between 1992 and 1995 in West Yorkshire.
An investigation was launched, and both men were arrested in June 2024.
At the time of the alleged offences, they worked in the Mounted Section of the police force, which was then based in Pontefract.
Ian Hopkinson was a police constable, and William Baker was a police sergeant.
A third man, aged 74, who was a West Yorkshire Police officer at the time of the reported offences, was also arrested in June 2024 as part of this investigation.
Police confirmed that this man has since died.
