Concerns grow over officer wellbeing during probes

Former PC Leigh Walker told the BBC of the toll a 20-month internal investigation had on his life

A former police officer has told the BBC of the stress a 20-month misconduct investigation had on his life after being accused of having sex while on duty.

Former Hampshire PC Leigh Walker was cleared after a misconduct panel said authorities had failed to adequately investigate "the most obvious line of enquiry".

Mr Walker is one of several former officers who raised concerns about fairness, timeliness and a lack of welfare support during the misconduct process.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said it was committed to the highest standards of integrity in all investigations.

Mr Walker said he was first made aware of the allegation in the summer of 2022.

His investigation lasted about 20 months, for over a year of which he was suspended - a situation he said made him "constantly" worry about losing his job.

"I went to the doctor at that time because of stress, I wasn't sleeping, I was drinking more than I normally do. I wasn't coping great," he said.

In his misconduct hearing, it emerged that GPS data from his body-worn radio, which tracked his location, indicated he was not at the address where the sex was alleged to have occurred.

Investigators attempted to explain this as a result of a "blip in the coverage" - to the dissatisfaction of those hearing the case.

"They didn't have my radio from my car set at that point because they didn't make the inquiries - so they basically didn't pursue the investigation into the most obvious line of inquiry," said Mr Walker.

Former officers have raised concerns about the welfare of those under investigation following the deaths of two serving officers

In the final outcome report in 2024, the misconduct panel said: "A very serious charge was brought against this officer and pursued to a misconduct hearing in circumstances where there was evidence readily available to the authority which would have exonerated him."

The allegation was dropped, but he was not told for two weeks afterwards - the panel said this was "inexcusable".

"If I had done something stupid and killed myself in those two weeks, my family would have been pushing back against Hampshire [police] for not doing their job properly," said Mr Walker.

PC Claire Browne died while under investigation by Hampshire police's professional standards department for alleged misconduct

BBC South began examining cases from departments that handle complaints against police officers after Hampshire PCs Claire Browne and Alex Hazlett-Beard were found dead in separate and unrelated incidents earlier this year.

Both were being investigated for alleged misconduct. Neither death was treated as suspicious and they will be subject to full coroner's inquests at a later date.

However, their deaths triggered an ongoing independent review of the department in Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, focused on concerns about the support available to staff facing complaints and the culture of those investigations.

An inspection of the force's professional standards department was undertaken in 2024 by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary.

It found "no evidence of disproportionality" in the department's decision making, and a good standard of investigation in the vast majority of cases.

Former Hampshire officer John Pickering said that he felt "nothing" was private while he was being investigated

Another former Hampshire officer, John Pickering, was accused of using excessive force during an arrest. The case was dismissed in court in 2008.

He echoed concerns around a lack of welfare support and said he felt that some of the methods used when he was investigated were "disproportionate."

"Once, it felt to me, they open a book on you, it's no holds barred," he said.

"There's no aspect of your life they won't delve into, nothing's private anymore, everything's under suspicion - whether or not it involves part of the initial allegation."

"Had I investigated a member of the public the way PSD investigated [me] - I'd be in all sorts of trouble," he said.

Investigations 'too robust'

The Police Federation, which represents officer welfare, claims data it obtained from 35 forces showed more than half of recorded police suicides across the UK, from 2022-24, involved officers under investigation - or 32 officers out of 55.

Suicides are not routinely recorded by some forces, meaning the data is incomplete. The BBC has not independently verified the Police Federation's data.

Donna Jones, Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, said she believed that investigations into officers had gone from "too soft" to "too robust".

"This is off the back of national police regulations, this is not something that's Hampshire and the Isle of Wight specific," she said.

The BBC England Data Unit sent a Freedom of Information request to all forces in the UK to find out more about how officer welfare was assessed while they were under investigation.

Twenty-four of the 47 forces responded.

They showed that policies for assessing welfare risk for officers under investigation were varied and, in some cases, informal, and often carried out on a "case-by-case" basis.

Four forces said there were currently no formalised risk assessment process for officers under investigation.

A spokesperson for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said all officers and staff received a comprehensive welfare risk assessment at the outset of an investigation.

It also said since 2023 there has been further specialist training available to welfare support officers.

If you have been affected by issues in this story BBC Action Line has put together a list of organisations that can help.