Cambridgeshire police officer facing misconduct hearing '˜was eating a kebab while AWOL on duty as concerned colleagues searched for him'

PC Richard Musgrave, based in March, will attend the hearing at Peterborough Education Conference Centre on January 3, 2018.

It is alleged that in the early hours of July 31, 2016, while on duty, he went and took a group of friends who were acting in an anti-social manner while drinking at Wetherspoon’s to a friend’s house via a marked police car, before heading to Hundred Road where he ate a kebab.

Numerous attempts were made to contact PC Musgrave by radio and mobile phone without success, it is claimed, before officers were despatched to the Hundred Road area travelling on emergency response as a result of concerns about PC Musgrave’s welfare.

The police state: “PC Musgrave then resumed radio contact and returned to March Police Station. When asked where he had been, PC Musgrave told the sergeant that he had been on a burglary patrol on the industrial estate, his watch had stopped, his earpiece had come out of his radio and his mobile was on silent.”

It is alleged PC Musgrave did nothing to stop the anti-social behaviour going on in Wetherspoon’s, and that when he prepared and signed a witness statement in relation to the incident it was incomplete, lacked detail and contained assertions that were untrue.

It is also alleged: “On August 9, 2016 during a further discussion about his whereabouts in the early hours of July 31, PC Musgrave told the sergeant that he had not been honest with him previously.

“PC Musgrave then dishonestly told the sergeant that he had gone to the industrial estate to finish writing a statement and had fallen asleep there. The sergeant challenged PC Musgrave over this as his laptop slate was at the police station at the time.”

PC Musgrave is also alleged to have made a further dishonest statement and that he asked sergeant to tell the inspector that he had been asleep.

It is alleged that these matters individually and/or collectively amount to gross misconduct, namely a breach of the Standards of Professional Behaviour relating to honesty and integrity, discreditable conduct, duties and responsibilities.