PC 'categorically' denies kicking partner in ribs

The proceedings are taking place at West Yorkshire Police HQ in Wakefield

A West Yorkshire police officer has denied a claim she repeatedly kicked her long-term partner in the ribs during a domestic row.

PC Vicki Silver told a misconduct panel that the alleged incident "categorically didn't happen" and that she was "not a violent person".

PC Silver, from Huddersfield, also denied stalking her partner before and after their relationship ended, as well as a claim of controlling behaviour.

The proceedings were told the man, who the panel have ruled cannot be named by the media, was recently convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm against PC Silver.

The misconduct hearing, held at West Yorkshire Police HQ in Wakefield, had previously been told that PC Silver had kicked the man in his ribs three times at their home in June 2022, after she took exception to something he said.

Giving evidence during proceedings on Tuesday, PC Silver said she had moved away from her partner to the other end of the sofa after becoming upset and "screeched" at him, before leaving the room.

But she denied kicking him, claiming he had made up the allegation the following day.

'Not a violent person'

She said: "He said, 'you kicked me'. That's been his stance ever since - it's been imprinted on his brain.

"But it categorically didn't happen."

She added: "I'm not a violent person. I never have been. I'm a talker."

The hearing was told PC Silver had been arrested for assaulting her partner in December 2013, although no further action had been taken.

She admitted to the hearing she had scratched the man's face, but said she had acted in "self-defence" after he "barged" past her following an argument.

The man himself was arrested in December 2021 for allegedly assaulting PC Silver with a lampshade, the hearing was told, although no further action was taken on that occasion.

However, PC Silver's solicitor, Ben Tighe, said the man had been convicted for assault occasioning actual bodily harm against his client "a matter of weeks ago".

The panel was told the allegation related to an incident where the man, wearing dark clothes, had gone to PC Silver's home at night, smashed her rear door with a hammer and then punched her.

A restraining order has been placed on him preventing him from contacting her, the panel was told.

'Error of judgment'

The relationship, which started in 2008, was said to have been largely happy until 2021, at which point PC Silver said her partner's behaviour "completely and utterly" changed.

She admitted leaving recording devices around the couple's home because she suspected he may have been having an affair, but insisted she only did this after trying to "sit down and talk to him" about his behaviour on "five or six occasions".

Recordings from the devices later revealed he had developed a cocaine habit which explained his change of behaviour, PC Silver, who joined West Yorkshire Police in 2004, told the panel.

When challenged about his use of the drug, it was alleged the man dismissed his partner's concerns and said she should "try it" herself.

PC Silver accepted she had made an "error of judgment" in following her partner back to the house he was staying in, after he had visited her and their children one evening in October 2022.

The man called 999 and said PC Silver had been banging on the doors and windows, though she told the hearing she had only wanted to talk to him about their relationship after he had left her home suddenly and unexpectedly.

"I wish I'd never have gone, but I went there with the best of intentions," she said.

Under cross-examination, the officer, who was suspended from duty in 2022, denied her actions amounted to controlling behaviour, saying: "I'm not a controlling person in the slightest."

The panel is expected to rule on the allegations against PC Silver on Wednesday.

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