Essex Police officer who hit girl at hospital committed misconduct

Essex Police constable Toby Bailey resigned from the force on 4 January

A former police officer who struck a teenage girl in the head has been found to have committed gross misconduct.

Essex Police constable Toby Bailey hit the 17-year-old, who was in handcuffs, in the temple on 17 May 2022.

A misconduct hearing was told Mr Bailey and the teenager, who had been detained under the Mental Health Act (MHA), were at Basildon Hospital.

Mr Bailey resigned from the force on 4 January, but said he acted in self-defence as she was going to bite him.

A misconduct panel decided his actions breached the police standards of professional behaviour in the areas of use of force, discreditable conduct and equality and diversity.

The panel decided that Mr Bailey would have been dismissed from the force had he remained a serving officer.

The girl, referred to as Miss A, had been detained under the Mental Health Act at Basildon Hospital

The girl, referred to as Miss A, had been detained at the hospital after expressing suicidal thoughts to police officers.

The panel heard she was taken into a private room used for MHA admissions by a police officer after she became "irate and unhappy".

Mr Bailey, who was called to the scene as back-up, placed her in handcuffs and escorted her with two colleagues into the room, the Local Democracy Reporting Service wrote.

Almost immediately after entering the room, Miss A - who was trying to free herself from Mr Bailey's grip - was dealt a blow to the temple area by Mr Bailey.

'Antagonistic'

Mr Bailey said he acted in self-defence in the belief Miss A was going to bite him and claimed he had seen her bare her teeth and move her head towards his hands.

Ex-police officer Joanne Caffrey gave evidence to the panel as an expert witness, and said that while "inappropriate", her behaviour was not "unusual or extreme" with regard to what officers were expected to deal with.

Ms Caffrey said the communication style used by Mr Bailey and another colleague had been "antagonistic".

She added that another viable option could have been for Mr Bailey to push Miss A away from him rather than execute a strike.

The hearing was held in four sessions in front of panel chair Andrew Hearn, Supt Darren Deex and Richard Gutowski.

Andy Prophet, the deputy chief constable of Essex Police, said Mr Bailey failed to show "patience, respect and compassion".

"Instead of calming and diffusing a challenging situation, his actions meant the situation escalated," he said.

"Very simply, his actions were completely unacceptable and fell well below what is expected of every Essex Police officer."

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