- Gillian Weatherley was on duty at No10 when notorious row took place
- She took a photo of an email another officer sent his bosses about incident
- Ms Weatherley passed it on to an officer who leaked content to Sun
A police constable has been sacked over leaks to the press linked to the Plebgate row, Scotland Yard said.
Gillian Weatherley
was on duty in Downing Street on the day of the confrontation between
then-chief whip Andrew Mitchell and fellow constable Toby Rowland in
September 2012.The next day, Weatherley sent a photograph of an email that Rowland had sent to his bosses about the row to another officer, James Glanville - who was later sacked for leaking the information to the Sun newspaper.
Gillian Weatherley was on duty in Downing Street
on the day of the confrontation between then-chief whip Andrew Mitchell
(pictured)and fellow constable Toby Rowland in 2012. She subsequently
sent an e-mail about the incident to another officer, who leaked it to
the press, and has now lost her job
During the initial incident, Mr Mitchell lost his temper after being told he could not ride his bicycle through the main gates.
He became embroiled in a heated confrontation with another police officer, Toby Rowland, and admits swearing but denies calling officers ‘plebs’.
As well as
sending the photograph to Glanville, Scotland Yard said Weatherley went
on to exchange 12 text messages with him in the days following the
confrontation, all of which she later deleted.
The
force said she had given 'inaccurate and misleading' statements to
officers investigating the aftermath of the row, and had been suspended
from duty since her arrest in February last year.
A grab of a video that shows the incident, which
had wide-ranging repercussions for both Mitchell and the Metropolitan
Police Service
Prosecutors have already decided not to press charges.
Weatherley was found to have
breached standards of professional behaviour in relation to honesty and
integrity; orders and instructions; confidentiality; discreditable
conduct and challenging and reporting improper conduct in a three-day
misconduct hearing.
She
was found guilty of gross misconduct after the hearing before a panel
which included an independent representative, a Superintendent and
Commander Julian Bennett.
Pc Toby Rowland, the officer who alleged that Mr Mitchell called him a 'f***ing pleb'
Another
two officers, also from the diplomatic protection group, are due to
face gross misconduct proceedings in the coming weeks.
The
next hearing will begin tomorrow, for another Pc accused of denying he
had been in contact with Keith Wallis, a fellow officer who was jailed
and sacked for sending his MP an email in which he pretended to have
witnessed the Downing Street confrontation.
A
third constable will face her gross misconduct hearing on May 20, where
she will be accused of giving false statements to the police
investigation into Plebgate.
It is claimed she knew about Wallis’s email and her partner leaked information to the Sun.
The
hearings are taking place in private as dictated by statute, but Mr
Mitchell was invited to attend and Scotland Yard said it would publicise
details of the decisions made.
The
only misconduct hearing the force has previously held in public is that
of Pc Simon Harwood, who was sacked after the death of newspaper seller
Ian Tomlinson, when it was ordered to do so by police watchdog the
Independent Police Complaints Commission.
Mr
Mitchell said: 'Disciplinary hearings in the Metropolitan Police are
held in private and therefore I am limited in what I can say - at this
stage.
'What I can say today is that I felt the hearing was well-conducted.
'This
gross misconduct hearing was in respect of police officer Gillian
Weatherley, who first obstructed my exit from Downing Street on
September 19 2012 in breach of clear instructions from the head of
Downing Street security.
'I
hope the transcript of the inquiry and its supporting evidence will be
published in full in the interests of openness and accountability.
'This case has serious consequences for the Government, the police and every citizen in this country.'
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