By Charlotte Webster-
A Met Police officer threatened to break his mother-in-law’s door down after he discovered his wife has been sending intimate messages to another man, a misconduct hearing has been told.
The officer had tried to move on after he discovered the “explicit and intimate text exchanges” on April 2, 2022, but flew off the handle months later and jumped into her mum’s garden, the panel heard.
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The panel heard how Officer A was off-duty and drunk when he arrived at his mother-in-law’s house on April 10 2022. The report said: “[He] started shouting, swearing and banging on the doors and windows. He threatened to break down the door, then jumped over the rear garden fence and tried to open the back doors to the property.”
However, eight days later he reached crisis point due to a combination of drink and anti-depressants and turned up at her mum’s house.
“Officer A arrived at his wife’s mother’s house drunk and started shouting, swearing and banging on the doors and windows,” a misconduct panel heard.
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“He threatened to break down the door, then jumped over the rear garden fence and tried to open the back doors to the property.”
Police were called to the scene and in a statement his now former wife said she was terrified and had never seen him in such a rage before.
The panel noted that the officer, who was not named, was suffering from ill mental health at the time of the incident.
It was officer A’s poor mental health, and use of alcohol and anti-depressants, that led him to “crisis point”, according to his representative Mr Ladenburg. He argued Officer A’s actions were a result of his marriage breakdown and a mental health crisis, and that he should not be sacked.
The panel found there was no dispute Officer A had “caused distress” to his former wife, despite his claim he had just wanted to talk to her. The panel heard how Officer A’s wife had “never heard or seen [him] in such a rage before” and that she was “terrified”
He has since resigned from the police force in an expression of remorse for his actions, the panel heard.
One character reference said: “[The former officer] is a good man with a big heart and I am confident that this incident was completely out of character for him, a one off and only caused by extreme stress.”
The panel decided that his actions did not meet the threshold to justify dismissal.
Although he has resigned from the police force, he will not be added to the College of Policing’s barred list.
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