Lying MoD police officer 'would have been sacked'

Marcus Hall did not attend the misconduct panel at the MoD police headquarters in Essex

A former Ministry of Defence police officer who boasted of shooting a man and stole money would have been sacked if he had not quit, a hearing ruled.

Marcus Hall told customers at his local pub in Essex that he was the police officer who shot Mark Duggan, whose death sparked riots in 2011.

The hearing was told Mr Hall stole from a colleague's retirement collection and also lied about serving in the Army.

His behaviour was ruled to amount to gross misconduct.

The former PC, described as a "Walter Mitty" character, was found at a misconduct hearing at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) police headquarters in Wethersfield, Essex, to have breached standards for honesty and integrity.

James Keeley, the chairman of the panel, said Mr Hall had shown "deliberate and sustained dishonesty" including in his police standards interview.

He ordered Mr Hall be placed on a list preventing him from joining other police forces.

Locals at the White Horse Inn in Ridgewell said Mr Hall's stories became "a standing joke"

The panel heard that between 2016 and April 2019, Mr Hall regularly told customers of the White Horse pub in Ridgewell that he was the man who killed Mr Duggan - although he had never worked for the Metropolitan Police.

The panel also heard Mr Hall had kept about £48 of a £70 retirement collection he arranged for a colleague, opting to buy cheap gifts and not returning the unspent money.

Mr Hall, who resigned from the force on 29 November, did not attend the hearing and was not represented but had denied the allegations.