Police officer sacked after sending fake hospital messages from Tunisia holiday

A student Leicestershire Police officer has been sacked after she lied about being in hospital when she had in fact gone on holiday to Tunisia. The officer had claimed to have suffered an injury after playing football, but bosses found her actions breached standards of behaviour.

The officer, who has not been named, served as a special constable between 2022 and 2024, and was found to have breached multiple professional standards during her core initial training. A misconduct hearing at force headquarters in Enderby heard the officer had asked her trainer for time off earlier this year for a medical appointment.

However, it transpired she had instead travelled to Tunisia for a pre-arranged holiday. That same day, she sent messages to fellow student officers via WhatsApp falsely claiming she was still at hospital. Messages included: "Guys I'm still at hosp, can someone let anyone known please :))" and later "I'm just sat its boring and my phones dying".

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The hearing heard how before the incident the officer had "worked hard" to get into the force itself and had a "passion for policing". However, her honesty was questioned when it emerged she returned to work after her 'hospital appointment' wearing a medical boot for a supposed injury from playing football. She did not need to wear the boot, but continued to wear it at work for four days.

The hearing, which took place on Wednesday, November 13, deemed the officer's actions serious misconduct, finding she had breached standards of professional behaviour, namely honesty and integrity, duties and responsibilities and discreditable conduct. She was sacked with immediate effect.

Chief Constable Rob Nixon said: "It is with great sadness that I must make this finding as I have no doubt that Pc worked hard to get into the force and had previously served as a special constable and formed part of our cadet unit. She is a bright and intelligent officer who studied crime scene investigation and was passionate about policing.

"It is widely understood that officers need to act with integrity on and off duty and her actions will have contributed to damaging the reputation of the force and policing generally. On being faced with a choice of telling the truth or lying she chose to lie and repeated that lie to complete the deception which is unacceptable."

As well as being dismissed without notice, the officer is also set to be placed on the Police Barred List.

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