PC sacked after magic mushrooms found in gun cabinet

PC Guy Patten was arrested after officers were called to his Wirral address and found the drugs

A Merseyside PC has been sacked after magic mushrooms were found inside a gun cabinet in his home.

PC Guy Patten was arrested after officers were called to his Wirral address for unrelated reasons on 3 December, 2023.

According to a misconduct ruling by Merseyside's Chief Constable Serena Kennedy, Patten was found to be intoxicated and access was requested to his gun cabinet.

Dried mushrooms containing the hallucinogenic Class A drugs were found inside after Patten "reluctantly" handed over his keys.

Chief Constable of Merseyside Police Serena Kennedy presided over the misconduct ruling

The force said Patten resigned in May after admitting possession of Class A drugs at Manchester Magistrates' Court on 11 April, where he was fined £600.

Ms Kennedy found him guilty of gross misconduct after a hearing on August 9, and ruled he would have faced immediate dismissal had he remained on the force.

Patten will also be placed on the College of Policing barred list, meaning he is prohibited from holding a policing job in the UK.

According to a written ruling from Ms Kennedy, she found no "mitigating factors" in Patten's case.

'Clear message'

"The communities of Merseyside should quite rightly be able to have trust and confidence that the officers and staff working for Merseyside Police uphold the law," she wrote.

"The harm caused by cases such as this are high."

There have been calls from politicians such as Labour's Charlotte Nichols, and former Conservative MP Crispin Blunt, to ease restrictions on psilocybin - the active ingredient in magic mushrooms.

However psilocybin continues to be classed in the same category as drugs such as heroin, cocaine and ecstasy.

Det Ch Supt Sabi Kaur, from Merseyside Police’s Professional Standards Department, said: "I hope that the result of the hearing sends a clear message that we simply will not tolerate this type of behaviour from our officers and staff."