Revised: Sussex Police officer given final written warning by disciplinary panel

A Sussex police officer has been given a final written warning after a misconduct panel found the following matter to be a matter of gross misconduct:

‘You told a colleague that a member of the public had been in the IRA without taking sufficient care to communicate your understanding as to the accuracy/ certainty of this information, despite knowing that this would result in police time being spent researching the member of the public and any threat to you and your family (lack of integrity).’

An earlier media statement suggested that the panel had made a finding of dishonesty based upon this allegation. This is not the case and only a finding of a lack of integrity was made. We apologise for the earlier error.

Inspector Simon Barden, 41, appeared before a misconduct hearing at Sussex Police headquarters from 3-6 March which was held in front of a panel led by an Independent Legally Qualified Chair (LQC). LQCs are selected from a list of independent, legally-qualified persons to conduct police misconduct hearings, and are governed by Police Conduct Regulations. LQCs work with the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and others to instil and embed as much transparency and proportionality into misconduct hearings.

The hearing heard several allegations including that he informed a colleague that a member of the public was a member of the IRA, knowing this to be untrue or without taking sufficient care to clarify the truth of that statement.

He also faced an allegation that he had informed a former partner that she was in danger when he did not believe that to be the case and threatened to plant cocaine in the car of the daughter of his former partner.

The panel decided that the only allegation which was proven was the first, that the officer had told a colleague that a member public was a member of the IRA without taking sufficient care, and knew it would result in police time being spent researching the report.

This behaviour breached standards of professional behaviour and amounted to gross misconduct. All the other allegations were not proven. The officer was given a final written warning for four years.

Detective Superintendent Andy Wolstenholme, Deputy Head of Professional Standards said: "The actions of this officer on this occasion were not in line with the values and standards that we expect, lacking integrity. The report that Inspector Barden made prompted a response from his colleagues in good faith, potentially diverting resources away from other public duties."