The ECHO has covered a number of misconduct hearings at Merseyside Police HQ this year
PC Alex Kean was commended for saving a man on the East Lancs Road but makes our list after he assaulted a man following a takeaway confrontation(Image: Unknown)
Every week the ECHO covers dozens of cases in the city’s criminal courts that have only got to that point due to the dedication of the region’s police officers. But while investigations that have put murderers, drug dealers, violent sex offenders and arsonists behind bars deserve to be praised, the ECHO also believes it’s important for open justice that Merseyside Police’s serving officers are held to the same standards that they enforce.
Throughout the year the ECHO covers a number of misconduct hearings where officers have appeared before a senior officer such as Chief Constable Serena Kennedy to face allegations that they have breached the standards of professional behaviour to the level of gross misconduct.
Police officers hold a position of trust in our society and when officers break that trust it can cause reputational damage to the force as well as significantly dent public confidence. As said by Chief Constable Kennedy during a misconduct hearing this year, “the communities of Merseyside should quite rightly be able to have trust and confidence that the officers and staff working for Merseyside Police not only uphold the law but also abide by the law”.
While not every officer mentioned on the list below broke a law, their conduct was deemed to have amounted to gross misconduct. All of the officers either were sacked from the force, resigned before they had the opportunity to fight their case before the panel, or were handed a final written warning. Many were also placed on the College of Policing’s barred list. Here are eight officers who let down the community they were entrusted to serve.
Sgt Steven Smith
A police sergeant pulled out his warrant card and told door staff he was testing them when he tried to recover a friend’s bag of cocaine. Former Merseyside Police Sergeant Steven Smith was on a city centre stag do on August 12 last year when his group was subjected to a random search by door staff at Soho bar on Concert Square.
The door staff found a “small bag of white powder” and confiscated it. Sgt Smith then spoke to staff and produced his warrant card to identify himself as a police officer. He told them he was carrying out a test on the staff and they had passed.
He then asked them to return the powder to him but was told the bag would be put into a strong box to be collected by Merseyside Police at a later date. Sgt Smith was due to appear before a misconduct hearing on November 18 to face allegations that he had breached the standard of professional behaviour to the level of gross misconduct.
He denied the allegations but resigned from the force days before the misconduct hearing took place. He was unrepresented at the hearing, where a panel determined his conduct amounted to gross misconduct. If he was still a serving officer he would have been dismissed from the force without notice and has also been placed on the College of Policing’s barred list.
You can read in full here.
PC Alexander Kean
An off-duty police officer – once branded a hero – knocked a man to the ground and repeatedly punched him in the head following a drunken confrontation in a Merseyside takeaway. Merseyside Police Constable Alexander Kean appeared before a gross misconduct hearing on September 13 where he faced allegations of breaching the force’s standards of professional behaviour following the late-night assault earlier this year.
The former hero cop, who was previously commended for rescuing a man lying in East Lancashire Road with a broken leg, was dismissed without notice and will never be able to be an officer again after he was placed on the College of Policing barred list. The misconduct hearing, chaired by Chief Constable Serena Kennedy, heard that shortly after 2am on March 16 Kean entered Pizza Chef in St Helens.
After he ordered food, Mr A and Miss B then entered shortly after. Shortly after there was an interaction between the three people and Miss B struck the former officer who then retaliated. The officer then left the shop and walked down Baldwin Street. However, there was a further interaction and Mr A launched a kick at Kean.
The pair exchanged further words before Kean followed Mr A, dropped his pizza box and began running back towards him, pointing and shouting. The hearing heard he pushed Mr A, raised his fists adopted a fighting stance and tried to punch him. Mr A walked away but as he did, Kean punched him to the floor before repeatedly striking him to the head.
You can read in full here.
PC Ellie Butlin
A Merseyside Police officer was caught on CCTV inhaling balloons while her former girlfriend sniffed “cocaine” in the passenger seat of her car.
Former Constable Ellie Butlin was found guilty of gross misconduct after an accelerated misconduct hearing was chaired by Chief Constable Serena Kennedy on March 5. The officer had already resigned from the police force and was not present during the hearing which continued in her absence. The hearing was told that Constable 6910 Butlin was in breach of the force’s standards of professional behaviour after “witnessing a person taking what she believed to be an illegal drug and failing in any way to challenge that behaviour or otherwise report it”.
Constable Butlin was viewed on CCTV parked at Broughton Hall Retail Park around 8.30pm on August 6 2023. The officer, who was off duty at the time, was with her former girlfriend who was caught on CCTV snorting a white powder believed to be cocaine off the back of her hand. The ex-girlfriend was then observed handing two balloons to Constable Butlin, who then put them in her mouth.
The hearing heard the CCTV showed the balloons inflating and deflating as she inhaled the gas from inside. Chief Constable Serena Kennedy determined that Constable Butlin had “turned a blind eye to drug use and lied about it”. She said: “Her “culpability was high as she didn’t take positive action and allowed it to happen in front of her.
The Chief Constable found the officer’s actions did amount to gross misconduct and said she would have been immediately dismissed from the police force without notice. However, the now-former Constable Butlin resigned before she was sacked.
You can read in full here.
PC Ryan Bate
A police officer has been issued a final written warning after he kicked a member of the public and shouted “I will f***ing knock you out”.
Merseyside Police Constable 8555 Ryan Bate appeared at a misconduct hearing held on March 6 this year where he was found to have breached the standards of professional behaviour following an incident with a member of the public while he was off duty. An unnamed complainant called the police at around 5.45pm on May 12 2023 to report that he had been assaulted.
The hearing heard that he had been out for a run around Billinge Hill, St Helens when a dog – a dachshund called Max owned by PC Bate – had run between his legs. The complainant said he shouted to the off-duty officer to put his dog on the lead as he didn’t want to kick it. He then claimed PC Bate ran after him, and grabbed his shoulder whilst shouting and swearing saying words to the effect of “I will f***ing knock you out”.
The complainant said PC Bate then stated he would “flatten” the complainant, before kicking him in the ankle leaving a “small red cut”. The complainant then took a photo of PC Bate before calling the police. PC Bate told the hearing that the complainant had been the aggressor, approaching him in response to the incident with the dog and telling him “Get your f***ing dog on a lead ya k***head”.
The officer said the complainant continued to engage in “abusive conversation”, and denied there was any physical contact between the two. PC Bate’s gross misconduct was addressed by a formal final written warning.
You can read in full here.
PC Kevin Courtney
A Merseyside Police officer used a “deeply offensive” word after being called to a Tesco car park where travellers were setting up. PC Kevin Courtney was in a police van with other officers when they were ordered to attend the supermarket, and he began listing names for groups of travellers, including “gypsies and tinkers”.
It was said that Courtney, who has since retired, used the word “Fenian”, a term for members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, sometimes used as a derogatory word for Irish Catholics, to refer to another officer. This offended the officer, who was a Roman Catholic of Irish heritage, and he complained at the end of his shift.
A misconduct hearing was held on September 16 2024, in which it was alleged that PC Courtney had breached the standards of authority, respect courtesy, and conduct. In a recently published report, the panel said the case was “unusual” due to the “archaic” nature of the word, which some panel members and witnesses had never heard before.
The panel said the incident was a “case of recklessness”, adding: “We do not accept that there was an intention to cause real offence, and the use of the word represents ignorance rather than malice.” However, they said there was “much to criticise” in Courtney’s case, as he refused to see things from the student officer’s point of view and instead made the “absurd claim” that he was “unconsciously biased”.
They recorded a finding of misconduct, but said this would not be grounds for dismissal if Courtney was still a serving police officer as there was “room for education and awareness”. Courtney, a 25-year veteran of the force, retired sometime after the incident took place in August last year.
You can read in full here.
PC Brigitta Pal
A police officer has been sacked from the force after she attempted to obtain CCTV from Asda following a car crash involving one of her family members. Merseyside Police Constable Brigitta Pal appeared before a misconduct hearing held at the force’s HQ on Cazneau Street in Everton between September 9 and 11 where it was determined she had breached the standards of professional behaviour to the level of gross misconduct.
The misconduct hearing was told on July 29 last year the former officer was on a rest day. However, on that day one of her relatives was involved in a minor damage-only crash at Asda in Birchwood, Warrington. The relative, whose name is redacted in the report, exchanged details with the other party, whose identity is also protected.
Shortly after the incident, the other party began to receive telephone calls from a withheld number. When they eventually answered, Pal stated she was an officer from Merseyside Police and had witnessed the incident and the other party was at fault. Pal also stated she had viewed the CCTV at Asda.
Pal didn’t provide any contact details nor state where she got their number from. She later attended Asda and viewed the CCTV. However, during her attempts to get the CCTV, she failed to tell staff that she was related to one of the people involved and did not disclose the full details of the incident.
The hearing concluded former Constable Pal had breached the following standards of professional behaviour – honesty and integrity and discreditable. The force said: “It was proven that the officer had been dishonest in her dealings with the complainant. Her actions whilst dealing with an incident involving another family member demonstrated a lack of integrity, which in turn was discreditable.”
The former constable was dismissed without notice and will be added to the College of Policing barred list for a minimum of five years.
You can read in full here.
PC Paul Ledworth
A disgraced police constable who sexually assaulted two women in Liverpool city centre also flouted his professional duties by having sex with a junior officer. Paul Ledwith, 49, was a 15-year veteran of Merseyside Police when he was charged with groping two women in July and August 2020.
He denied the offences but was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault following a trial at Manchester Crown Court in March 2021. A police misconduct hearing, which investigated Ledwith’s actions after the allegations first came to light, was held at Eaton Road Police Station in May 2021. It found the former constable – who was responsible for training student police officers – had committed gross misconduct as he breached his bail conditions and contacted a female officer, who he later had sex with in a Premier Inn hotel.
A hearing report, published on September 27, revealed Ledwith had been served with a Regulation 17 notice of investigation following an allegation of inappropriate behaviour in May 2020. He was placed on restricted duties, with one restriction being “not to have contact by any means with student officers” of a particular class.
Paul Ledwith leaving Manchester Crown Court
In August 2020 he was arrested and released on bail on the condition that he was “not to approach or communicate with any student officer within Merseyside Police”. However, between May and August, he continued to be in regular contact with one student officer, messaging her on WhatsApp and exchanging racy snaps with her.
The report found, that in July 2020, Ledwith met with the student officer on two occasions in a pub car park, where they kissed and engaged in a sexual act. In August 2020 the pair visited the Premier Inn Southport, where they had sex.
Ledwith continued to exchange messages with the female officer, who ended the relationship on August 2 2020. Ledwith blocked her online, but eight days later he attempted to contact her once again using a false name, Thomas Smith, on Facebook. He sent her further messages on August 11, and again on August 16, telling her: “I know I should an texting you and I’m the last person you want to speak to, but I just wanted to make sure you’re ok and I miss you xx”.
The panel found Ledwith’s behaviour amounted to gross misconduct, having breached the standards of professional behaviour: honesty and integrity, orders and instructions and discreditable conduct. On its website, Merseyside Police said: “Had the officer still been serving he would have been dismissed without notice and he has been placed on the College of Policing barred list.”
You can read in full here.
PC Idris Saroke
A former police constable ploughed his car into a wall while drunk, pushed away an officer and claimed another man called “Tony” was driving.
A post-employment hearing was told this morning, Monday, June 17 that former Merseyside Police Constable Idris Saroke crashed his Mitsubishi Cult while drunk, five days before he was due to face separate misconduct allegations. What followed was a stream of additional misconduct allegations which saw the former copper flee the scene, assault a police officer and lie about who was driving the car.
However, the officer, who previously unsuccessfully applied to have the proceedings held in private, refused to attend his misconduct hearing and offer any mitigation. Chloe Hill, appearing for the AA, told the hearing the former PC crashed his car into the front garden of a house on Southport Road, in Scarisbrick, in the early hours of December 11 2022.
Ms Hill said: “A witness called Catherine Jones heard the car drive on the road and then heard the collision. She went to her window and saw the car crashed into the wall. She went down to check that the driver was alright. She asked if he was okay and he replied no. She said he appeared drunk…was stumbling and slurring his words…behaving like an active drunk.”
Former PC Saroke was charged with drink driving and dangerous driving and entered not guilty pleas. The hearing heard the matter was due to go before the criminal court for trial, but the matter was ultimately discontinued. He resigned from the police force in June 2023.
He was alleged to have breached the standards of professional police behaviour to the level of gross misconduct. The former officer faced allegations that he drove a motor vehicle whilst intoxicated; made off from the scene of a crash; assaulted a police officer; was untruthful as to who was driving the vehicle; and drove a vehicle that was not in a roadworthy condition.
The former PC would have been dismissed from the force if he had not already resigned and was also added to the College of Policing barred list.
You can read in full here.