Timeline: How the Jevon McSkimming scandal unfolded over nine years

A Facebook post in 2018. A LinkedIn one in 2023. 105 in 2024. Complaints against Jevon McSkimming surfaced for years but were never properly investigated. 1News traces the timeline of how police failed to act on allegations against one of their own, based on an explosive IPCA report.

Jevon McSkimming, then a superintendent, began a relationship with Ms Z through a sporting club where he was a coach. Ms Z was 21. McSkimming was 40 and married.

While not her coach, the relationship "developed" at a February 2016 competition, changing from a platonic to a sexual relationship around a month or two later. Years later, they gave "markedly different accounts" — he described it as a consensual affair, while she says there was never a consensual relationship, according to the IPCA report.

McSkimming was promoted to an assistant commander in April 2016.

In June, he sent Ms Z’s name for consideration for casual employment with police, which she was offered and then commenced the following month.

He then personally requested that she be based out of Wellington Central Police Station — putting her closer to his place of work rather than where the role was based at the Royal New Zealand Police College in Porirua.

According to McSkimming, the relationship ended in December 2017, although Ms Z said it continued into 2018. She ceased casual employment with police on January 29, 2018.

In May 2018, McSkimming told his wife about the affair and, according to him, Ms Z began sending harassing emails to him around this time.

Just after disclosing the relationship to his wife, he also told his supervisor, police's deputy chief of executive resource management, who was given the title of Ms Q in the IPCA report.

According to the IPCA, the supervisor remembers, "McSkimming calling her to tell her he had had an affair; that it had now ended; that the other party was now threatening and blackmailing him; and that he was worried she would start harassing his wife.

"She did not see the emails … McSkimming said he was being sent."

Ms Q recalls asking McSkimming "whether the woman he had an affair with was a police employee, to which he answered she was not.

"He did not disclose, and she did not ask about, her age."

McSkimming was subsequently referred to the deputy chief executive of people and capability, who also quizzed him on whether the woman was a police employee.

She said she alerted the then-police commissioner Mike Bush's office as part of her "usual practice", although it's unclear if this information was passed on.

In retrospect, the IPCA deemed the interactions in early and mid-2018 gave police leadership no reason to act or investigate McSkimming himself further than they did.

In September, both the police and the IPCA received a "mention" in an anonymous Facebook post containing allegations about McSkimming.

The one-paragraph post named him and contained allegations about his purported "lies and manipulation" and "threatening to post images" online of a former partner.

Investigators concluded police did not have systems and processes for monitoring and responding to complaints made via Facebook, and no action was taken.

The IPCA also concluded that its own response was inadequate, as it did not take any action in response to having been tagged in the post with the allegation.

A year later, then-police minister Stuart Nash confirms Bush is to step down in April 2020 and a new commissioner will be appointed.

Then-deputy commissioner Andrew Coster is widely tipped as a contender for the role.

In March, the Government revealed Coster would take over from Bush the following month. He officially became commissioner on April 3 amid the country's first Covid lockdown. McSkimming was promoted to non-statutory deputy commissioner on October 27, 2020, after an external vetting process.

Coster said he had the relationship disclosed to him soon after.

"Coster says that … McSkimming told him that the reason the woman was contacting people was because she was very focused on wanting to resume the relationship."

In Coster's recollection, McSkimming described an affair with "a student that he had taught sport" (he later clarified they were just members of the same sporting club).

Coster said he sought and received assurances from McSkimming that there was no work connection to the affair. Although Ms Z worked for police after the affair started, McSkimming was said to have not been involved in the appointment process.

The commissioner also learned of the age gap between the two in the relationship — another detail about the affair that otherwise wasn't previously disclosed.

But Coster did not make further inquiries, including speaking with officers involved in the 2018 disclosure. He later acknowledged he should have asked more probing questions.

"He disclosed it to Ms Q and Ms S some years prior, and so that was also a factor in my decision-making – if we as the employer were going to make an issue of this, we should have done it three years prior when it was first discovered," he told the IPCA.

The IPCA painted Coster as accepting McSkimming's portrayal of events, assuming police had dealt with them in 2018, and he had recently gone through an external vetting, which should have uncovered issues. The recruitment agency told the IPCA McSkimming did not disclose the affair during that 2020 process.

In February 2021, McSkimming engaged a lawyer in an attempt to restrict the emails from Ms Z that he regarded as harassment.

He was also said to have applied for a top-secret security clearance sometime in 2021, which he later told colleagues as part of his "narrative" – according to the IPCA – that the affair and any complaints had been brought up as part of vetting processes.

"Once again, it is not the purpose of this report to reach findings on the accuracy of that narrative, rather to highlight that certain officers did not take steps to verify the truth or otherwise of that narrative."

According to the IPCA, non-statutory deputy commissioner Tania Kura was told sometime in 2022 about McSkimming's relationship by a colleague, but she "dismissed it as office gossip".

It wasn't until later that she was told directly of McSkimming's version of events.

Towards the end of the year, the application process began for statutory deputy commissioner roles. A statutory deputy commissioner is appointed on the PM's recommendation, unlike a non-statutory role. Coster was on the interview panel.

On February 23 and 24, 2023, the Public Service Commission (PSC) conducted reference checks on McSkimming, speaking with Ms Q, his former supervisor, and others.

Asked if there was anything about McSkimming's "integrity, conduct or behaviour, either past or present, that could bring him/her or police into disrepute," Ms Q eventually mentioned details in the most comprehensive disclosure of any references.

"He had a strange relationship with a woman that was almost stalking him. She was not well. She got out of hand. If it was a member of the public you would send the police to deal with it. They had to change his cell phone number and email. He managed to work this through with her parents to help her," according to contemporaneous notes.

Neither Coster nor McSkimming disclosed the relationship to the interview panel, with apparent confusion over whether it should have been brought up.

McSkimming later said he "wasn’t asked those types of questions at the interview."

On March 24, PSC official Heather Baggott met with Coster to discuss probity and integrity issues. Accounts disagree about how the issue of McSkimming's previous affair was raised, and to what extent, during the recruitment process.

"It is hard to conceive that if the topic of the relationship was raised, it would not have been recorded," the IPCA said of notes from the March 24 meeting.

McSkimming was ultimately appointed to the new statutory role on April 11, alongside deputy commissioner Tania Kura.

In April, McSkimming's appointment was announced and specific, serious and new allegations were posted on a congratulatory LinkedIn post about the news.

"Yea should be really proud of Jevon McSkimming who cheats on his wife for years using taxpayer funded hotels and police property to do it in a way that makes him feel 'safe', has sexually assaulted at least one police employee on police property, threatens to destroy and ruin people when he is concerned about his behaviour being known," the message read.

"He has also taken images of someone without their consent and threatened to use the images to destroy them."

On May 4, police became aware of the message. Deputy commissioner Kura had the post removed and said the issue should be reported to the IPCA. The watchdog was notified the next day.

Between May 5 and 11, McSkimming's and Ms Z's lawyers held further negotiations due to increased email communication.

Kura inquired with others but "took comfort from her understanding" current and previous leaders were aware of the situation.

The IPCA was informed as such and didn't pursue the matter any further. It noted Kura "had only just commenced in her role" and was aware of existing PSC processes.

"If it had not been resolved before me, there must have been a reason for it," Kura said.

The IPCA found Kura and Coster failed to make sufficiently robust inquiries into the LinkedIn post, relying too readily on the account provided by McSkimming and other senior officers. It also chided itself for not inquiring further after the post was referred to it.

The watchdog said of itself: "It would have been prudent of us to make inquiries as to the nature of any investigations police had undertaken and their outcome.

"If we had done so, we would quickly have ascertained that none had ever taken place."

Around mid-2023, Coster told the new IPCA chairperson, Judge Colin Doherty KC, that McSkimming had had an affair.

From December 27, 2023, to January 2024, Ms Z sent more than 300 anonymous emails to McSkimming and others, including the IPCA, Coster, Kura, the Police Minister, the Prime Minister and media outlets. The content was often graphic, with a recurring theme that McSkimming was a sexual predator who targeted young females.

On January 4, 2024, the IPCA replied to one of the emails, informing the sender how to make a complaint. The authority then opened a complaint file, which the complainant later asked to be closed until a formal report could be laid.

Around this time, McSkimming called the IPCA and said he was being blind copied into the authority's emails with the complainant. He told them he knew who she was, he had had an affair with her years ago and she wouldn't leave him alone.

Handling of complaints against disgraced cop 'appalling', 'utterly disgraceful', watch on TVNZ+

On January 25, Coster sent an email to Kura asking her to refer the emails to the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre (FTAC) for consideration. He believed the emails reached the threshold for action under the Harassment Act. The commisioner noted it was "clearly not appropriate" for McSkimming to have any role in directing this.

Kura contacted the FTAC, who assigned a detective to discuss the matter with McSkimming.

An investigation into Ms Z commenced in February, but no police investigation was launched into McSkimming's alleged conduct stated in the LinkedIn post or emails.

There was correspondence between the IPCA and Coster in March.

On the night of April 26, police received three 105 online reports from Ms Z detailing allegations of sexual misconduct and breaches of the police code of conduct.

The reports added more detail to the previous anonymous emails.

"Jevon Murray McSkimming took unsolicited photo/s of a young female and threatened to use them publicly to try and silence the young female and threatened that he knew just how to ‘destroy’ her life. Sexually assaulted NZ Police staff," one of the reports read.

Police should have referred these 105 reports to the IPCA immediately but did not, according to the watchdog.

Over ensuing days, police continued preparing a case against Ms Z for sending harassing emails, while senior officers made no move to investigate the serious allegations she had raised about McSkimming's conduct.

On May 3, the director of integrity and conduct, Officer M, met with the IPCA and expressed concerns with the way the matter was being handled.

On May 8, Ms Z was arrested and charged under the Harmful Digital Communications Act.

In their investigation database, the 105 messages were labelled “False 105 Report” and were ultimately referred to as evidence in the prosecution.

About a month later, in June, deputy commissioner Kura decided police should explore whether any of the allegations in the emails were true.

She said the catalyst was the prospect of Ms Z pleading guilty.

Kura and assistant commissioner of investigations (known as assistant commissioner A) agreed to seek the assistance of Officer D, an investigator with significant experience in adult sexual assault cases. Coster said he was also involved in this decision.

Kura's decision to have someone investigate the veracity of Ms Z's allegations was correct, the IPCA found, but came three to four months later than it should have.

On July 10, Officer D called the IPCA, advising she had been tasked with investigating the complainant's allegations. The IPCA told he that someone in police should investigate the matter further and Ms Z should be asked if she wanted to make a complaint about sexual assault allegations.

However, the investigation was framed in a way that did not prioritise speaking with Ms Z. "I was essentially being asked to get a feel for the veracity of the complaint without actually speaking to the complainant. It just didn’t feel right," Officer D said.

"I personally think it should be very simple in every police officer's world. Doesn't matter who the hell you are. We speak to the person, take a complaint and investigate it."

When speaking to her concerns at a July 26 meeting, Officer D described interactions with assistant commissioner A as "very strange".

"Officer D recalls assistant commissioner A saying several times in the meeting that deputy commissioner McSkimming had applied to be commissioner, and if this situation was not resolved, he would not get the job."

On August 14, the IPCA asked police why the matter still hadn't been referred to the authority. This sparked internal alarm. Officer M warned her superiors: "We do appear to have bypassed our usual complaint processes for quite some time."

She saw a "potential reputational risk" if it emerged Ms Z had tried multiple times to complain but police had never properly investigated.

On August 23, the IPCA met with deputy commissioner Kura and assistant commissioner A. Police said Officer D was unsuccessfully trying to contact Ms Z, and there was nothing further police could do unless Ms Z engaged with them.

On September 5, Ms Z finally made direct contact with Officer D.

Email correspondence continued through the month.

Coster's early resignation from police was announced on September 23. The search immediately begins for a new commissioner, with McSkimming a candidate.

On September 24, despite the progress in speaking directly with Ms Z, assistant commissioner A closed down the inquiry led by Officer D.

In late September, Officer M became increasingly concerned with the handling of the investigation and again contacted the IPCA.

On October 9, the PSC contacted the IPCA to ask if they held any complaints relating to applicants for the commissioner position. McSkimming was at this stage an applicant.

The next day, following the call from the PSC and Officer M's concerns, the IPCA chairperson officially sent a letter to police requesting a referral of the complaint.

Police referred the file on the same day. Only in reviewing the file did the IPCA became aware of Ms Z's 105 reports sent in April that year.

On October 15, investigators emailed Ms Z's lawyer, and Ms Z replied the following day.

A week later, Coster wrote to the IPCA, expressing concern and urging the matter be cleared up before the commissioner appointment process made recommendations to ministers. "I am concerned that the authority may inadvertently significantly increase Jevon’s victimisation from this pattern of harassment and do so in a way that will be irreversible in terms of his career.

"This is against the backdrop of an issue that has been visible for a very long time and was capable of being resolved long ago – indeed, Jevon considered that it had been.

"I do understand the difficult position for the authority in the circumstances. However, it is unfair for Jevon to suffer the consequences of this.

"A standard investigative approach and timeline in this situation risks a very unjust outcome."

The IPCA later found several claims in the letter were misleading or inaccurate.

On October 30, McSkimming was interviewed for the commissioner role.

On the same day, Coster held a meeting with senior police leaders to discuss the situation.

An attendee at a meeting said, "it was quite clear that he was very invested in Jevon becoming the next commissioner” and there was frustration details of allegations were released, with an obligation on police to be seen to be dealing with them.

He then proposed a new process for dealing with the complaint, which one attendee said amounted to "pressure to complete a criminal investigation…within a week”.

An officer walked away from the meeting saying of their thoughts: "I couldn't reconcile the commissioner’s approach with sound investigative practice". He said he was "gobsmacked at the idea that he wanted to take some sort of shortcut to a resolution".

Coster told the IPCA he was seeking reassurance that police were applying all necessary resources to resolve the investigation in a timely manner, and he still believes it was a reasonable approach based on the information he then had.

On November 1, police's national integrity unit conducted the first forensic interview with Ms Z under Operation Jefferson, a criminal investigation into her complaints.

Two further interviews took place with Ms Z on November 15 and 27 where she stated her allegations against McSkimming.

On November 20, it was announced that Richard Chambers would become the new police commissioner. He started the job five days later.

On November 28, the Crown in Ms Z's prosecution filed an amended charge notice and summary of facts, which removed reference to the allegations in the emails being false.

In early December, it was reported McSkimming was on leave and there had been allegations made against him.

Police's national integrity unit investigation ultimately found insufficient evidence to establish the offences to the criminal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt, so no prosecution was commenced against McSkimming over the allegations raised.

The IPCA repeatedly emphasised that its investigation was to review how police handled the complaints about McSkimming – not whether they were true or not.

However, in the course of the investigation, police discovered McSkimming had used his police digital device on numerous occasions to access objectionable images and he was charged under the Films, Videos and Publications Classification Act.

McSkimming resigned on May 12, 2025.

The Crown was granted leave to withdraw the charge against Ms Z under the Harmful Digital Communications Act in September 2025.

Last Thursday, on November 6, McSkimming pleaded guilty to three representative charges of possessing child sexual exploitation and bestiality material.

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Yesterday, the IPCA released its report finding: Several people within police, predominantly at senior levels of the organisation's national headquarters, failed to take appropriate action when serious complaints were made against McSkimming.

The report found that while those people did not act with the intention of undermining the integrity of the organisation, the effect of their actions was to do so.