By Eric King-
A police officer from Kingston accused of stealing biscuits has been found not guilty by a panel after a three-day misconduct hearing.
PC Thomas Hooper was alleged to have taken a two-tier tin of a colleague’s biscuits on May 3, 2016, and then lying about it five months later.
He appeared before the panel for a two-day hearing to answer the case.
PC Hooper’s lawyer Ben Summers, mitigating for PC Hooper, told the panel the biscuits had been left out, and there was no evidence they were taken from a cupboard, as was alleged.
He said: “Things get left out, and the way that you understand people are doing that is that that is most likely for others to use.”
A witness, PC Darren Johnson, said PC Hooper had said that if someone was “stupid enough” to leave biscuits out then “f**k them” – this quote was disputed by Mr Summers.
PC Hooper had offered to replace the box, but his offer was declined because he was considered to have committed an offence.
Charles Apthorp, representing the Metropolitan Police, told the hearing that PC Hooper’s actions showed a “fundamental lack of integrity”, saying his actions might have amounted to a breach of professional standards.
Panel chairwoman Naheed Asjad was critical of the judgment that a case like this got to court. She said the public would be concerned that a complaint involving a tin of biscuits had reached this stage.
She asked Sarah Blake, who was an inspector at the time: “You have a sergeant and an inspector and a box of biscuits that have gone missing and the only thing you can come up with is to refer the matter to DPS (Directorate of Professional Standards)?”
Ms Blake replied that “the option of going to the DPS was because of the gravity of the incident”.
PC Hooper was also accused of driving a van in “response mode” (exceeding the speed limit with lights on) without a valid reason, and giving a false account of the incident.