The highest-ranking police officers in New Zealand ignored anonymous allegations that former deputy commissioner Jevon McSkimming was a sexual predator, a Herald investigation can reveal.

Instead of investigating whether the sex claims could be corroborated or not, the emails sent by the young woman were used by police as evidence to prosecute her for a harassment campaign against McSkimming.

She was arrested and charged under the Harmful Digital Communications Act, placed under restrictive bail conditions and silenced by wide-ranging suppression orders.

The gagging orders were put in place ostensibly to protect the reputation of McSkimming, who was one of the top candidates to replace outgoing Police Commissioner Andrew Coster.

McSkimming missed out on the top job after the sex claims were inadvertently discovered during the vetting process, and the police belatedly investigated the woman’s allegations at the end of last year.

McSkimming maintained his innocence and said the allegations were motivated by revenge to destroy his career.

However, during the course of the investigation, detectives discovered McSkimming had used his work devices to search for pornography, including bestiality and child sex exploitation material, for at least five years.

The 52-year-old resigned in disgrace and was later charged with possession of objectionable material.

He pleaded guilty last week and will be sentenced next month.

But the full circumstances which led to his downfall have been unable to be reported until now.

The lapsing of the non-publication orders – which the Herald has worked to oppose for nearly 12 months – in the Wellington District Court today allows new details of the case to be revealed for the first time.

And with the suppression orders falling away, the police watchdog body can now publish a bombshell report.

The inquiry by the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) has strongly criticised some of the most senior officers in New Zealand – including Coster – for failing to properly investigate the woman’s complaints.

Despite the failings of the police, the digital harassment charge against the woman was only recently withdrawn by the Crown.

The previous Police Commissioner Andrew Coster (left) with his former deputy Jevon McSkimming during an appearance before the justice select committee in 2023. Photo / Mark Mitchell

“The police have failed my client,” defence lawyer Steven Lack told the Herald.

Over a period of years, Lack said the young woman attempted to report allegations of a serious physical, psychological and sexual nature by McSkimming, who was one of the most powerful police officers in the country.

“Instead of being heard, she was dismissed and ultimately prosecuted for speaking out and raising her concerns,” Lack said.

The Auckland barrister said that the police had the opportunity to engage with her, to properly assess what she was saying and to investigate her allegations.

“They could have viewed her as a traumatised victim. They chose not to,” Lack said.

“They accepted Mr McSkimming’s denials without meaningful inquiry and placed the full weight of the criminal justice system on my client for more than a year until the charge against her was withdrawn.

“Understandably, this has had a devastating impact on her.”

The Herald can reveal that McSkimming had previously disclosed to Coster that he had been in a sexual relationship with the woman.

She had been in her early 20s at the time and McSkimming later helped her get a job in the police as a non-sworn employee.

McSkimming, who was in his early 40s at the time, had described the relationship as an extramarital affair which ended in 2018.

But as he rose through the ranks towards the top job last year, the woman sent dozens of vitriolic emails accusing McSkimming of being a predator who groomed women for sex.

The anonymous allegations were sent to politicians, senior police officers, government officials and journalists.

She also repeated the allegations in an anonymous phone call to the police 105 reporting line for non-emergencies.

Former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming addresses media at a press conference, while Prime Minister Christopher Luxon watches on. Photo / RNZ, Reece Baker

In his defence, McSkimming maintained the sexual relationship was consensual and the email allegations were motivated by revenge to destroy his career.

But the police never properly investigated the allegations. The young woman was never contacted or asked whether she wanted to make a formal complaint.

Instead, McSkimming lodged a complaint under the Harmful Digital Communications Act against the woman and she was arrested in July 2024.

Despite no investigation into the veracity of the sex claims made by the woman, police described the emails she sent as containing “false” allegations, according to documents which underpinned the prosecution against her.

It was only at the point when she was facing prosecution herself that police asked if she would be interviewed or make a formal complaint against McSkimming.

All details of the prosecution were suppressed on the grounds of preventing “further harm” to McSkimming, which in effect protected his reputation as he prepared his bid to become the next Police Commissioner.

During the interviews for the top job, neither McSkimming or Coster disclosed details about the relationship, or the woman’s allegations and subsequent prosecution for harassment, to the Public Services Commission (PSC) officials.

Even Police Minister Mark Mitchell was unaware until the IPCA informed the PSC that the woman had made an official complaint to its investigators.

Subsequently, Richard Chambers was appointed as the new Police Commissioner in November and McSkimming, who just weeks earlier had been the only other candidate interviewed for the role, was quietly sent home on special leave.

Following the intervention of the IPCA, senior detectives were finally tasked with interviewing the young woman – who was still facing prosecution over the emails – and investigating her sex complaint against McSkimming.

The 52-year-old was formally suspended on full pay just before Christmas.

But he maintained his innocence and, in a statement issued by his lawyers the following month, said he expected to “resume his duties” after being cleared by the criminal investigation.

However, the detectives investigating the woman’s complaint inadvertently found web searches for pornographic material on McSkimming’s police work devices.

Among the material were images of child sex exploitation and bestiality.

While the images were considered irrelevant to the original sex complaint made by the young woman, the discovery led to a separate criminal investigation.

When confronted by the existence of the objectionable material in early May, McSkimming chose to resign.

If McSkimming had not resigned, the Police Minister said he would have sacked him anyway.

Former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming being pursued by media after appearing in court on charges of possessing objectionable material. Photo / Mark Mitchell

“I instructed the Public Service Commission to commence the process to remove Mr McSkimming from office after allegations of a very serious nature recently came to light,” Mitchell said at the time.

“The Policing Act is very clear: a Deputy Commissioner of Police must be a ‘fit and proper’ person. They are rightly held to the highest standards of conduct and this new information called into serious question Mr McSkimming’s fitness for office.

“When Mr McSkimming was invited to respond to these allegations, he chose to resign. Mr McSkimming’s resignation has confirmed my view that his continuation in the role was untenable.”

He was eventually charged in July with eight counts of possession of objectionable material, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Then in September, nearly a year after the investigation started, senior detectives met with the young woman who made the original complaint of sexual misconduct.

They told her there was not enough evidence to charge McSkimming.

“The Solicitor-General’s Prosecution Guidelines (2025) require both evidential sufficiency and public interest thresholds to be met. In this case, the evidential test was not satisfied,” Assistant Commissioner Mike Johnson later said in a public statement.

“The investigation and decision not to charge were independently reviewed by a King’s Counsel and peer-reviewed by a Crown Law appointed barrister.

“The investigation was thorough and led by a Detective Superintendent. It had independent engagement throughout from the IPCA and a Crown Law-appointed barrister.”

But a few weeks later, the Crown finally withdrew the Harmful Digital Communications Act charge laid against her.

Jevon McSkimming in the dock at the Wellington District Court when name suppression was lifted in August 20205. Photo / Mark Mitchell

For months, defence lawyer Steven Lack had argued that she should never have been charged in the first place and the ongoing prosecution was not in the public interest.

The way the complaints were handled should alarm all New Zealanders, Lack told the Herald.

“It suggests that the police were more focused on protecting Mr McSkimming’s career and advancement than on properly assessing serious allegations of offending against him.

“The police are an organisation entrusted by the community to protect and serve. In my client’s case, they did neither.”

The failure of some of the country’s top-ranking police officers to properly investigate the allegations made against their close colleague McSkimming, then use those emails as evidence to prosecute her, is the focus of an independent IPCA investigation.

The inquiry looks into whether there has been “misconduct or neglect of duty” by any police officer or employee in the course of responding to the allegations.

Coster is now the chief executive of the Government’s Social Investment Agency.

He did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

Coster has previously told journalists that he will not answer questions until the IPCA report is released publicly.

Former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster (front left) and Police Minister Mark Mitchell (front right), with Jevon McSkimming seated behind and between them, at a justice select committee hearing in 2024. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Last week, McSkimming pleaded guilty to three representative charges of possession of objectionable material.

Court documents show that McSkimming used his police-issued work devices, primarily an iPhone, to search the internet for thousands of pornographic images.

A total of 2945 were later classified as objectionable, including bestiality and child sex exploitation material.

His internet history dated back five years, with McSkimming often searching for explicit phrases during work hours.

When he became aware of the investigation into his internet use, McSkimming admitted to his colleague that police had found porn on his laptop.

“He said that he had found a way around the normal police systems to look at porn and that he grew up in a house where pornography was normal,” according to a summary of the police case.

“He also spoke with another colleague and said that over the years he had needed different types of pornography to make him feel anything and it just kept escalating.”

McSkimming will be sentenced in the Wellington District Court in December.

Jared Savage covers crime and justice issues, with a particular interest in organised crime. He joined the Herald in 2006 and has won a dozen journalism awards in that time, including twice being named Reporter of the Year. He is also the author of Gangland, Gangster’s Paradise and Underworld.