Aiden Love

Introduction

Aiden Love was a police constable with the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, the specialist armed force that protects nuclear sites, serving at Dounreay in northern Scotland. The 34-year-old, who lived in Halkirk, pleaded guilty at Wick Sheriff Court in May 2025 to causing a 12-year-old girl to look at a sexual image and communicating indecently with her, after contacting her on Instagram while posing as a teenage boy. He was sentenced to a community payback order, was placed on the sex offenders register, and resigned from the force. On 15 January 2026 the CNC held a misconduct hearing in his absence, found his conduct amounted to gross misconduct, and determined he would have been dismissed without notice had he still been serving.

Background Information

Love served as a police constable, collar number 2774, with the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, which polices nuclear sites and the transport of nuclear material, and worked at the Dounreay nuclear site in Caithness while living nearby in Halkirk. He was 34 years old when the case came to court. The force’s officers are subject to its published complaints procedure, through which members of the public can raise concerns about their conduct.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

In late March 2024, Love sent an Instagram friend request to a 12-year-old girl while pretending to be a 14-year-old boy named Andrew from Inverness. He repeatedly asked her for explicit pictures even after she told him she was 12 or 13 years old. She sent him images of her face and of her private parts, and he sent her images of a penis, including a moving image of a male masturbating. The exchanges ended on 9 April 2024, when the girl’s mother became suspicious and alerted the police. Officers traced him through his username, and he gave them the PIN for his phone.

He was charged on 28 May 2024 under sections 23 and 24 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009, covering causing a young child to look at a sexual image and communicating indecently with a young child. He pleaded guilty at Wick Sheriff Court on 27 May 2025. Both the misconduct panel’s record and gov.uk give the conviction date as 27 May 2025, although some press coverage referred to the plea hearing as having taken place the previous July.

The court imposed a three-year community payback order with supervision, ordered him to complete 225 hours of unpaid work, and placed him on the sex offenders register. He resigned from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The CNC pressed on with disciplinary proceedings despite his resignation, holding a misconduct hearing on 15 January 2026 in his absence; he had failed to respond to correspondence and did not attend. A three-person panel chaired by CNC Assistant Chief Constable Michael Vance found his conduct amounted to gross misconduct and that he would have been dismissed without notice had he remained a serving officer.

The panel recorded the factual basis as “his conduct in engaging in indecent sexual communications with a 12-year-old girl by pretending to be a 14-year-old boy”. Vance described the details as “shocking” and said: “The public would be rightly appalled to learn that a serving police officer had engaged in conduct which involved causing a child to look at a sexual image and of communicating indecently with her. The case speaks for itself.” The panel viewed his culpability as “very high”: a planned, targeted gross breach of trust against a female child by a serving officer, carried out for his own sexual gratification.

Current Status

Love is no longer a police officer, having resigned from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary before the hearing. He is a registered sex offender, subject to a three-year community payback order with 225 hours of unpaid work imposed after his guilty plea. The gross misconduct finding was recorded at the 15 January 2026 hearing, and the panel’s decision has been published on gov.uk as a formal outcome. Anyone with concerns about the conduct of serving CNC officers can raise them through the force’s complaints procedure.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Love’s policing career ended with his resignation, and the gross misconduct finding means the dismissal he avoided by leaving was formally recorded: the panel concluded he would have been dismissed without notice had he still been serving. He was one of five officers put before CNC misconduct hearings between January and June 2026, every one of whom was found to have committed gross misconduct — three former officers would have been dismissed and two serving officers were dismissed — according to an analysis by Misconduct999.

Sources

BBC News, “Dounreay police officer exchanged sexual images with girl” — source
John O’Groat Journal, “Former Dounreay police officer guilty of gross misconduct” — source
Civil Nuclear Constabulary, Misconduct Hearing Outcome, FPC Aiden Love (PDF) — source
Civil Nuclear Constabulary, complaints procedure (GOV.UK) — source
Misconduct999, “Every officer hauled before nuclear police misconduct hearings was dismissed or found to have deserved the sack” — source