Hertfordshire officers dismissed for crimes and misconduct

Police forces across the country have come under scrutiny in recent weeks after 33-year-old Sarah Everard was kidnapped, raped, and murdered earlier this year by a serving officer who had been flagged to the police for alleged flashing.

Hertfordshire Constabulary has said it is “redoubling” efforts specifically to tackle violence against women, as part of action seen across the UK to make women feels safer.

The force has also said it is "absolutely committed" to protecting women and girls from violence and abuse, and keeping the streets safe for everyone.

The reasons officers dismissed varied in each case, but there were several involving acts of gross misconduct where officers were linked to sexual acts.

Here is a list of officers dismissed:

Andrew Sweeney

Andrew Sweeney was relieved off his duties on January 5, 2018, following an incident in September 2016, when he gave a “vulnerable female member” a lift home in a marked police vehicle while on duty.

During the journey, the two exchanged numbers and messages were sent.

Sweeney visited the woman’s house after his shift finished, and the two had “consensual sexual activity”.

At the time of the dismissal, deputy chief constable Michelle Dunn stated Sweeney “grossly breached the high standards of professional conduct” and that the actions were “totally unacceptable”.

Darryl Whitaker

While limited information has been published on this, it is understood he accessed crime reports relating to his ex-partner to ascertain her new address. This was not for a policing purpose.

He was dismissed on April 27, 2018

Torson Sharp

Dismissed on July 26, 2018, Sharp aired racist, sexist and homophobic views on Facebook.

During a hearing, the officer admitted to uploading posts and comments online, but claimed he did not mean to offend anyone.

It included commenting “nothing of value was lost” on a post of the death of a black man who died after being stopped by police in London.

Another post showed Sharp stating he had “no sympathy” for a woman who was raped and murdered by a refugee.

Jamie Woolf

While off-duty on a night out, he drunkenly headbutted a man in a pub, which left the victim with minor cuts to the nose.

Woolf had only been in the force for 19 days before his resignation.

A misconduct hearing on January 21, 2019 amounted the behaviour to gross misconduct.

Jack Smith

While off-duty at Stevenage Police Station, he sent a video of him masturbating in uniform to a man posing as a 17-year-old boy on the gay dating app, Grindr.

The exchange happened in 2018, and quite early on in the conversation the video receiver claimed he was 17.

Smith was dismissed without notice on November 21, 2019.

Matthew Glaysher

The Watford police officer was found with extreme pornographic images on his phone.

Glaysher received the images between March 2-16 and February 2017, when he was a special constable for Thames Valley at the time.

Later working for Hertfordshire Constabulary, he told the panel that the content was “unsolicited” and he forgot the images were on his phone.

He was dismissed on January 22, 2020.

Beresford Joy

Joy contravened a red traffic light, driving outside his driving grade. Referred to as “Bez”, the officer failed to report to the supervisor, after having been previously warned to do so.

Joy asked another officer to lie in his statement stating the light was green and was dismissed on July 15, 2020.

Javesdul Shahid and Giuseppe Catalanotto

On March 14, 2019, the officer was in plain clothes and in an unmarked vehicle when he stopped a vehicle travelling at excess speed in Herne Road, Bushey.

The driver admitted to having had an alcoholic drink or two but wasn't breathalysed. The driver’s keys were confiscated by the officers and the driver returned home as he lived on the road that he had been stopped on.

The officers took the keys back to Borehamwood police station where they weren't booked into the property system.

They were left on a desk and the following day Shahid spoke to another officer informing him that they had seized the keys from somebody trying to get into a vehicle and they needed to be returned when the driver came into collect them.

They were both dismissed on August 11, 2020.

Nicholas Musto

Musto had sex with a vulnerable sexual harassment victim as he investigated the claim she made in April 2007.

When interviewed by Hertfordshire Constabulary in 2013, he denied any relationship.

He later admitted misconduct in a public office and was jailed for 15 months at Peterborough Crown Court in July but remained an officer. On September 21, 2020, he was sacked.

George Aspinall

Aspinall was convicted of drink driving on September 29, 2020.

On October 14 that year, he was dismissed from the force.

Warren Potter

A misconduct panel found that Potter “failed to act with self-control” when he stood on a handcuffed man’s head and kicked it on January 13, 2020.

The handcuffed man spat at another officer and was restrained by four other officers.

The panel heard that Potter had his right food placed on the man’s face for 24 seconds, and for “two short moments” most of his bodyweight was “directed through his right foot”.

He used his left foot to kick the man.

He was dismissed on October 21, 2020.

Anthony Martin

Martin used police systems for non-policing purpose to search for personal details of a person known to him.

He had been texting the man over 18 months, but they never met in person.

When dealing with an incident, he texted the man that he was “coming to see him”, and cited his address – which was never provided to the officer.

He was found with gross misconduct for the privacy invasion and was dismissed without notice. He later was told to pay £35,000 to the victim as compensation.

Michael Zdan

Zdan was accused of inappropriate behaviour – which was not sexual - towards a colleague between September and November 2019.

Some of the claims include pushing her face into a cake and referring to her as a ferret.

He retired from police in August 2020, but a panel in December deemed that a dismiss would have been justified had he still been with the force.

Alasdair Macphail

Macphail was arrested after driving and arriving late to work, after it was suspected he was drink driving and he produced a positive breath test.

He was convicted for driving whilst over the prescribed limit and dismissed on February 16 this year.

Michael Grigg

The officer was jailed in December 2020 after being found guilty of two counts of sexual activity with a child – aged under 16.

The victim was a police cadet at the time between 2007 and 2012, while Grigg was a cadet leader for the force.

He was sentenced to six and a half years in prison, and placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.

Then in March this year, he was officially dismissed.

Mohamed Huzair

The officer sent an inappropriate sexual message to a teenager on Snapchat after she was dismissed as a suspect in a car theft case he was investigating last year.

He also met up with her while on duty as an officer for a non-policing purpose.

Huzair was dismissed on April 15 this year.

What has Hertfordshire Constabulary said?

A spokesperson for Hertfordshire Constabulary said: “We require the highest levels of integrity from our officers and staff and when someone fails to meet this standard, we take the appropriate action.

“If claims are made against our officers, a thorough investigation will be carried out by an independent force irrespective of who the offender is.

“The Professional Standards Department (PSD) prioritises sexual offence allegations against police officers."

It was also explained that in the wake of the Sarah Everard murder, "it is only right" that the police service should be subjected to closer scrutiny.

Talking about Wayne Couzens, who was behind the murder, the force said: “He betrayed every single police officer and staff member who have dedicated their working lives to preventing crime and keeping people safe.  

“We recognise damage he will have caused to communities’ confidence in policing, and we are certain that the service nationally will learn from what has happened.

“He is however in no way reflective of policing generally and we as an organisation remain absolutely committed to protecting women and girls from violence and abuse, and keeping our streets safe for everyone.”