Officer dismissed for dishonesty

Fiona Barton QC presented misconduct proceedings for West Midlands Police which concluded on 18th December 2018 and resulted in the dismissal of an officer for giving a false account of events arising from the restraint of a mental health patient Kingsley Burrell in 2011. Kingsley died within hours of the restraint and an IPCC investigation led to the prosecution of 3 officers. In 2017 all were acquitted of perjury and perverting the course of justice. A decision was made to pursue misconduct proceedings.
A number of officers were involved in the transfer of Kingsley between psychiatric units in 2011. It was necessary to physically retrain him for an extensive period of time and during this time his head was covered by a member of the ambulance team. The misconduct panel found that the officer had lied about not having seen the cover over Kingsley’s head and found him in breach of the standard of honesty and integrity. They also concluded that in failing to remove the cover the officer failed in his duty of care to Kingsley. The officer was dismissed.

The case was unusually conducted under the 2008 regulations. Nicholas Wilcox acted as legal adviser to the panel who included an acting chief constable and an assistant chief constable.

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Related barristers

Fiona Barton KC

Call 1986 | Silk 2011

Related areas

Police Law

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