'Last Rat Standing' Twitter account officer keeps job

Gloucestershire Police said Sgt Susan Gaitely should "be dismissed without notice"

A police officer who ran a Twitter account posting "totally unacceptable" tweets about people in custody has kept her job.

Sgt Susan Gaitely tweeted from an anonymous account called Last Rat Standing over a three-year period.

Tweets included: "Vile vile vile. Prosecute for oxygen theft & non-existent personal hygiene."

Gloucestershire Police said she should be dismissed without notice but a panel gave her a final written warning.

The misconduct panel, found 14 tweets out of 26 made by Ms Gaitely had amounted to misconduct.

Among them was a tweet calling Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Chancellor of the Exchequer Phillip Hammond offensive terms.

In other posts, Ms Gaitely commented on how she had treated people she had placed in custody such as: "Dropped a perfect knee strike into a fighting guest today - only to find they'd wet themselves. Classy. #joblikenoother #policecustody."

The panel found that "given their number and their seriousness" the tweets did constitute gross misconduct and she "could be dismissed for the cumulative effect of them".

Account deactivated

But it concluded that a final written warning would "show that the matter was taken very seriously".

Det Supt Mark Chicken said the officer's behaviour had been "totally unacceptable".

"The constabulary made representations to the independent misconduct panel that the officer should be dismissed without notice," he said.

"The officer has stopped using all social media and will be monitored to ensure there is no recurrence of this behaviour."

The account has been deactivated.