During their decades of police service, the Basingstoke Six must have heard every excuse in the book from the many criminals they collared.
So when they found themselves standing in the dock, so to speak, and asked to account for behaviour that was racist, sexist and homophobic, the expectations for their explanations were set quite high. Sadly, to a man, they disappointed.
PC Craig Bannerman, for example, was accused of failing to challenge colleagues when they made foul and degrading references to women. The reason? A hearing problem which the officer claimed meant he must have missed the offensive slurs being bandied about. Then there was PC James Oldfield, who spoke about ‘mongs’, ‘bummers’ and ‘sluts’ – and even joked about migrants having a long swim and drowning in the sea.
Six officers have been found guilty of gross misconduct after racist, sexist and homophobic comments were caught on tape. (Envato)
Six officers in the Hampshire Police Serious Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) have been found guilty of gross misconduct after their racist, sexist, homophobic comments were caught on tape.
Between March and April, 2018, secret recording equipment was set up in the unit, based in Basingstoke, after a staff member complained via the force’s confidential reporting system.
At a police misconduct hearing in October, 2020, it was revealed that six Hampshire Police officers, including two senior officers within the SOCU, had been recorded using racist, transphobic and homophobic slurs.
BBC News
Published
image captionFormer Det Insp Tim Ireson led the unit for two years
Six members of a toxic police unit have been found guilty of gross misconduct after their offensive conversations were secretly recorded.
Investigators bugged the Northern Serious Organised Crime Unit s office in Basingstoke, Hampshire, and analysed messages over a 24-day period in 2018.
The Northern Serious Organised Crime Unit was homophobic, racist and sexist , a misconduct panel heard.
The panel is due to consider sanctions at a later date.
Jason Beer QC, prosecuting, previously said a toxic, abhorrent culture had developed amongst some officers because of a lack of leadership .
Detective Inspector Timothy Ireson (Credit: Solent News and Photo Agency) MEMBERS of police unit branded as “toxic” have been found guilty of gross misconduct after ‘offensive and disrespectful’ conversations were covertly recorders. The Northern Serious Organised Crime Unit s (SOCU) office, in Basingstoke, was bugged over a 24-day period in 2018 when homophobic, racist and sexist remarks were recorded. Six members have now been found guilty of gross misconduct following a lengthy misconduct hearing. Retired Detective Inspector Tim Ireson, Detective Sergeant Oliver Lage, Detective Sergeant Gregory Willcox, former PC Craig Bannerman, trainee Detective Constable Andrew Ferguson and PC James Oldfield are now facing sanctions.
Six police officers in a gangbusting police unit where they joked that a black colleague had been flown in from Africa in a cate and shared fake porn images of Prince Harry and Kate Middleton face the sack after being found guilty of gross misconduct.
Detective Inspector Timothy Ireson, Detective Sergeant Oliver Lage, Detective Sergeant Gregory Willcox, trainee Detective Constable Andrew Ferguson, PC James Oldfield, and PC Craig Bannerman from Hampshire Constabulary learned their fate at a misconduct hearing today.
The serious organised crime team were caught using the whole array of offensive language in a series of covert recordings after a complaint was made about their behaviour.