Police officers accused of spraying laughing gas

The bonnet of a Merseyside Police car bearing Merseyside Police's logo against a white backgroundImage source, PA Media
Image caption,

Three officers allegedly caused a colleague so much stress that she lost her hair

  • Published

Three Merseyside Police officers accused of "spraying colleagues with nitrous oxide" face a misconduct hearing.

Former Sgt Andrew Ditchfield, former PC Callum Smith and serving PC James Taafe are accused of gross misconduct.

Their behaviour allegedly caused a female colleague to be "stressed and lose her hair", according to a notice issued by the force's Professional Standards Department.

Mr Smith faces a separate allegation that he viewed a "sexualised video" to "taunt a member of the public". Meanwhile Mr Ditchfield is accused of "viewing footage and laughing at the misfortune of a colleague".

The notice states that "in spraying their colleagues with nitrous oxide (also known as laughing gas) and soaking a colleague with water, they have abused their authority as a police officer and have failed to treat colleagues with any respect or courtesy".

They are also accused of treating a colleague differently because she was a woman.

A 10-day hearing, before legally qualified chair David Tyme, is due to start on 24 February at Merseyside Police headquarters.

The force said it could not comment before proceedings had concluded.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, external, X, external, and Instagram, external. You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk, external

Related topics