B.C. Mountie loses court appeal after coercive sexual relationship with jail guard

A British Columbia RCMP officer ordered to resign or be fired from the force in 2018 has lost an appeal of a misconduct finding over a coercive sexual relationship with a jail guard. 

Sgt. William Turner was in charge of a jail cellblock in Surrey, B.C., and had began a sexual relationship with a woman who was employed by the city at the RCMP detachment in 2014. 

Turner and the woman had engaged in sexual activity while on duty, but the woman claimed a sexual encounter in a detachment stairwell in October 2014 was non-consensual, and Turner later was arrested but never charged.

An RCMP conduct proceeding found he’d committed discreditable conduct in 2018, but Turner appealed the decision first to the force’s conduct appeal adjudicator, then to Federal Court and later to the Federal Court of Appeal. 

A three-judge appellate panel dismissed Turner’s appeal last week, finding that the lower court made no error in tossing his bid to quash the disciplinary measures against him for discreditable conduct. 

The original decision from the conduct adjudicator says Turner’s disciplinary record showed a “demonstrated history of poor decision-making” when it came to women he worked with, and that he used his position of authority to get sexual favours from a subordinate.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 13, 2026.

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