Police officers shared 'vile' and 'shocking' messages, hearing told
Chief Constable Mark Hobrough says the actions of the officers "brought shame to our organisation".
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Police officers shared 'vile' and 'shocking' messages, hearing told Just now Share Save Nelli Bird BBC Wales Share Save Gwent Police officers joked about gay and trans people and shared messages depicting women being degraded and assaulted, a misconduct hearing has been told. Police constables James Heley and Simon Lewis would have been sacked if they had not resigned at the end of last week, it was told. The allegations mainly related to messages between 2015 and 2019 in two WhatsApp groups that came to light following the death of Gwent Police officer Ricky Jones, who took his own life in 2020. Chief Constable Mark Hobrough called the messages "vile" and "shocking" and said the former officers "brought shame" on the force. Opening the case, John-Paul Waite, representing the force's Professional Standards Department, told the panel Heley shared and received messages that objectified women, made fun of gay and transgender people and mocked people "on the basis of their race". The hearing was told the messages were "offensive, derogatory and disrespectful" and that Heley had "failed to challenge and report such conduct". Within one WhatsApp group, messages repeatedly used offensive terms to describe gay people, as well as racist language. The panel was told Heley claimed he had not read the messages in the group but Waite said the authority believed it was most likely that he had read them. 'Undermines public trust' Lewis was said to have also been part of the same two WhatsApp groups, sharing messages that ridiculed transgender women and people of South East Asian origin and contained offensive terms against gay people. The panel was told "the managing of public trust in the police service and upholding of standards lie at the heart of this case" and the "need for women to have trust in the police is a legitimate current, social concern". Waite added: "It is important that officers do challenge misconduct when they see it and if they do not, it contributes to a perc...
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