Case crumbles: Police officer accused of biscuit theft has 'no case to answer'

A police officer who was placed on restricted duties while he faced a disciplinary hearing over a tin of biscuits has been told he has no case to answer.

PC Thomas Hooper, from Kingston's Operational Command Unit in south-west London, denied two allegations of breaching professional standards, one of which related to taking a two-tier tin of biscuits from a communal area in the station.

He said he had planned to share the snack among colleagues, and offered to replace the tin, but was hauled before the Directorate of Professional Standards.

The second allegation related to a speeding ticket he asked to be withdrawn, when he was transporting a male patient from a mental health unit to the station.

On Wednesday, the disciplinary panel found he had no case to answer in either charges.

In the three-day hearing, the then inspector Sarah Blake argued that even though he had offered to replace them: "By that time the biscuits had been eaten and, in my mind, theft is theft.

"How was he going to put the biscuits back?"

He will return to full duties.