Essex PC 'lied' about French Foreign Legion on CV

PC Kasra Rafeian is accused of lying in his interview to join Essex Police

A policeman has been accused of writing his own reference and lying about service in the French Foreign Legion.

PC Kasra Rafeian denies lying in his interview with Essex Police, inventing a reference and disguising his handwriting from officers.

A misconduct hearing, held at Chelmsford Civic Centre, was told PC Rafeian said he came top of his class when he never finished training.

These actions constituted discreditable conduct, the hearing was told.

Stephen Morley, acting for Essex Police, said there was no dispute PC Rafeian had been a recruit in the legion between September 2015 and January 2016 but he had lied about finishing his training and his reasons for leaving.

'Deployed to Syria'

He said: "In his application to Essex Police and subsequent interviews he has not told the truth about his service in the French Foreign Legion and we say provided a false reference."

Mr Morley said the officer had claimed he had left the military as he had not been allowed to be deployed to Syria, when the legion later confirmed it had never been deployed there, but his resignation letter showed it had been for family reasons.

He said Mr Rafeian, who applied to the force in 2016 and was hired in mid-2017, had given an email address for a friend as that of a corporal in the French Foreign Legion and claimed to have translated his reference for him.

When asked the legion said it had no records of the man.

A handwriting expert had found a handwriting sample of PC Rafeian showed an attempt to disguise it from investigating officers, Mr Morley said.

The hearing was told PC Rafeian had said other reports written by him had not reflected his true handwriting as he had "been rushing".

The hearing continues.