Former police officer found guilty of gross misconduct
| Photo: Humberside Police
Following a misconduct hearing, former Humberside Police officer Phillip Payton has been found guilty of gross misconduct.
Mr Payton’s conduct is ruled to have breached the standards of Professional Behaviour on 13 occasions.
An independent panel, led by a legally qualified chair, heard Mr Payton had made a catalogue of errors.
These included returning devices to suspects earlier than they should have been returned, being dishonest with his supervisors, failing to update complainants, failing to submit files to the CPS and failing to submit exhibits for forensic examination.
Following the two day hearing, the panel found all allegations against Mr Payton proven and that his actions collectively amounted to gross misconduct.
They concluded that had he not resigned he would have been dismissed without notice.
Mr Payton had already resigned from the force when the case was heard and will now be added onto the National College of Policing’s barred list which prohibits him from working within policing.
Superintendent Matt Baldwin said: “This was a concerning case where an officer repeatedly breached the standards of behaviour that we expect here at Humberside Police, putting investigations at risk.
“He is no longer serving the public as a police officer and I hope this offers reassurance to our communities that investigating crime and putting offenders before the courts is something that we take very seriously.
“I am pleased to share that all of the investigations that Payton failed to appropriately investigate were reallocated to other officers and subsequently convictions were secured in the majority of them.”
“The case was also reviewed internally and learning was implemented to prevent any further instances of this nature.
“As part of our commitment to victims, supervisors across the force work very closely with their teams to ensure that investigations are of the highest standard and any concerns are flagged and addressed.”
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Nominations are open for schools and education settings to be recognised in the 2022 Lincolnshire Education Excellence Awards.
The event is organised by Stonebow Media, publishers of The Lincolnite, to celebrate the best school and teachers in Greater Lincolnshire.
The headline sponsors making the awards possible are Lincoln College Group.
Twelve categories are now open for nominations. The deadline for nominations is June 3, with a judging lunch scheduled for June 7.
Nominations are open from parents, carers, friends, families or education settings themselves, so if you know someone who deserving of winning now is the time to vote!
The awards ceremony will be held at the Engine Shed on July 7.
It’s been a week since the controversial statue of Margaret Thatcher was installed in Grantham’s St Peter’s Hill.
The £300,000 bronze monument immediately caused a stir and debate from both supporters and opponents of the first female Prime Minister of the UK.
Within hours of its 7am installation last Sunday, it had already been egged by a man later revealed to be 59-year-old Jeremy Webster, a deputy director at the Attenborough Arts Centre at the University of Leicester.
Mr Webster’s mother-in-law recently described his actions as “childish”.
Quoted in the MailOnline she said: “Margaret Thatcher lasted a long time in power. She was a trailblazer as the first woman prime minister and she had such energy, even though I know she slept very little.
“I’m very surprised to hear about all of this [egg throwing]. I’m going to have to call my daughter. I wouldn’t have thought Jeremy would be the sort of person to do this. It seems very childish to me – he has a responsible job.”
There have been reports of other antisocial behaviour taking place including people urinating up the statue, but investigations into these are yet to be confirmed by officials.
Away from the statue itself, others took to social media to react to the new monument.
Twitterer @BolsoverBeast thought Mr Webster’s actions should be expanded as a way to… get more people involved?
I think it would be a good idea to put Thatcher’s statue on a low loader and tow it slowly around the country so that we all have a chance to throw something at it. pic.twitter.com/uftMqr0LgR
— Chloe Schlosberg (@ChloeSchlosberg) May 19, 2022
Some called back to the fate of other statues
@Irritatedllama called back to the fate of slave trader Edward Colston who was thrown into the Bristol Harby in June 2020.
It's absolutely disgraceful that people are throwing eggs at the Margaret Thatcher statue in Grantham! We need to deploy a taskforce to give it jolly good wash!#Granthampic.twitter.com/RKftKUls4u
It wasn’t long before a parody account of the statue was set up on Twitter – nor before “she” was interacting with other parody accounts.
It was awful. I could see almost all of Grantham
— That Statue of Thatcher (@thatcher_statue) May 18, 2022
A… positive view?
There were supporters of the statue, however, Darren Grimes from GBNews was one of the few popular posts calling on people not to “give in to threats of petty vandalism”. He later posted the statue should be in parliament – where it was previously rejected from.
I honestly think Margaret Thatcher would have found this first round of petty vandalism of her statue to be utterly hilarious.
The statue looks absolutely glorious.
Almost a decade on from her passing, she’s still winding them up!
Some, like @Jonnyhibberd were more measured in their response.
I don't see a problem with a Thatcher statue and I also don't see a problem with people throwing eggs at it. Thatcher is an important part of our history, and so is what a lot of people thought about her.
— Jonathan Hibberd 🇺🇦 (@Jonnyhibberd) May 18, 2022
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