Ex-West Yorkshire Police officer faces jail after admitting sexual assault and misconduct
The 43 year old has already left the force
A former police officer is facing jail after he admitted inappropriately trying to befriend two women and sexually assaulting one of them.
Patrick Banks, 42, had inappropriate message exchanges with the women and asked one of them to translate a message saying, "I want to take your underwear off with my teeth", a court heard.
The offences happened both on and off duty when he was working as a detective constable in Leeds, West Yorkshire Police have said.
Banks appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Monday where he pleaded guilty to two counts of misconduct in a public office and one count of sexual assault, involving touching one of the women.
He denied one charge of stealing a mobile phone.
Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, the Recorder of Sheffield, said that charge would lie on file.
The court heard that Banks "wilfully engaged in inappropriate messaging" over five months in 2024 and 2025 with the first woman, and met up with her.
He is also accused of lying about being a rabbi to gain her trust, but the court heard he denies this.
A judge heard he engaged in inappropriate messages outside professional communication with the second woman over a month last year, bought gifts for her child and attended her address as a police officer.
He invited her to translate messages from French to English which said, "I want to take your underwear off with my teeth", the court was told.
The judge heard that Banks tried to befriend both women and attended their homes, in one case it was while he was off duty and in the other case, three out of four times were off duty.
Banks will be sentenced on April 1, and was bailed until then.
Judge Richardson said: "It is always a very serious matter for a police officer to misconduct himself.
"The sentence in such cases, I'm sure you appreciate, is invariably an immediate custodial sentence which always falls hard on an individual who has, at least in part, been responsible for upholding the law.
"The only issue really to be decided is how long that sentence needs to be."
After Banks was charged, West Yorkshire Police said he had been suspended in May 2025 and had since left the force.