Merseyside PC sacked for ignoring ex-girlfriend's cocaine use

Former PC Ellie Butlin "repeatedly lied" to another officer

A Merseyside Police constable has been sacked after she ignored her ex-girlfriend snorting cocaine in front of her.

Former PC Ellie Butlin was off-duty in the North Wales area when a car she was in was approached by a local officer.

Butlin told the officer she had "not done anything", which the force's Professional Standards Department determined was a lie.

She resigned ahead of the misconduct hearing.

Chief Constable Serena Kennedy, who chaired the accelerated hearing at Merseyside Police HQ, was told that PC Butlin had seen her former partner snorting what she believed to be the Class A drug off the back of her hand.

CCTV also showed that Butlin had inhaled from a balloon which said she had "believed to be helium".

'No integrity'

The police chief wrote that Butlin had "lied on at least four occasions" when confronted by the North Wales Police officer, following reports of drug-taking in the car.

She said Butlin had "allowed a criminal offence to take place in front of her" and acted without "any integrity".

CC Kennedy found her guilty of gross misconduct for breaching standards of professional behaviour around honesty and integrity and discreditable conduct, according to police conduct regulations.

Announcing the sanction of dismissal without notice, she wrote: "She cannot blame anyone else for this decision."

Butlin's name has also been added to the College of Policing barred list, prohibiting her from working in any policing role in the country.

Det. Supt. Cheryl Rhodes, from Merseyside Police's Professional Standards Department, said after the hearing: "Police officers are expected to behave in an exemplary manner at all times, whether on or off duty, and when they witness illegal activity they are duty bound to report it."