A Shropshire-based officer has been sacked by West Mercia Police following a four-day misconduct hearing. The officer, referred to as Officer A, was found to have bullied a student he was tutoring and to have lied about serving in Afghanistan.
The panel heard that Officer A behaved in an "abusive, hostile, oppressive, derogatory, intimidating and/or bullying manner" towards a colleague between March and April 2024. Tensions arose during an incident on 25 April 2024, where Officer A questioned the student's handling of a domestic abuse call and swore at the mature student.
Officer A also falsely claimed to have served in Afghanistan and to have "shot three people". This claim was found to be untrue after his superiors were informed by the military that he had never been deployed there. The panel concluded that Officer A's actions were dishonest.
The hearing was told that the situation had a "traumatic impact" on the victim's self-esteem, leading them to hand in their notice in February 2025. Deputy Chief Constable Damian Barratt stated that due to the seriousness of the offences, dismissal without notice was the only outcome.