Former Leicestershire PC thought colleague's wife 'was his slave'

The misconduct hearing took place at Leicestershire Police's HQ

A former police constable made racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments to fellow officers while on duty over six years, a misconduct panel has heard.

The allegations faced by James Storrs, 50, included him saying he thought a colleague's wife, of Afro-Caribbean origin, "was his slave".

He denied all the allegations but resigned from Leicestershire Police in 2018 during an investigation into him.

The panel decided his language amounted to gross misconduct.

Oliver Thorne, representing the force, said Mr Storrs used racist and inappropriate language about the officer's wife in March 2012 after a colleague's 40th birthday party.

The panel decided had Mr Storrs, who was accused of making the comments between 2010 and 2016, still been serving, he would have been dismissed.

'Derogatory'

The panel was also told Mr Storrs used racist language when telling an officer his daughter was sleeping with a black man while policing an English Defence League (EDL) march in Bradford in October 2013.

The officer said he challenged Mr Storrs at the time.

Another matter put to the panel was about homophobic language used by Mr Storrs.

This included an allegation that he said a female officer, who identified as LGBT, was a "waste to mankind", but these comments were found not to be proven by the panel.

"There's a common thread in these allegations of homophobic language, and being derogatory about minority communities," Mr Thorne said.

He added officers were expected to be impartial and fair "to all sections of the community", but Mr Storrs' behaviour had "fallen a long way short of those standards".

Mr Thorne said Mr Storrs, who was not present at the hearing, claimed the comments were "not his sense of humour" and that he had never used racist language.

He described Mr Storrs as an "exceptional officer" who had received several awards and commendations.

Jayne Salt, leading the panel, said it was important for the public to "maintain confidence in the profession" and that Mr Storrs had "breached the standards of equality and diversity".

He was also barred from joining any other police force.