A retired RCMP inspector with a high public profile has been found not guilty of a criminal offence following a workplace sexual encounter.

Tim Shields, the former spokesperson for the Mounties in B.C., claimed that the 2009 incident with a civilian RCMP employee was consensual.

She had testified that Shields kissed and groped her in a unisex washroom at the RCMP's former E Division headquarters on Heather Street.

Shields was defended in court by Vancouver lawyer David Butcher, who has represented many police officers during his career.

Shields resigned from the RCMP in December 2015 and was charged five months later.