Covid: Drink driving PC Tasia Stephens dismissed after lockdown party

PC Tasia Stephens, of South Wales Police, is dismissed after admitting gross misconduct

A police officer who attended a house party during lockdown and then crashed her car into a shop while drunk has been dismissed.

PC Tasia Stephens, 24, lost her South Wales Police job and was barred from working in the profession again.

At a tribunal, PC Stephens admitted gross misconduct, after attending the party in Treorchy last April, when Wales was under a strict lockdown.

She has since been sentenced after admitting drink driving.

Case presenter Barney Branston told the hearing at Pencoed in Bridgend, PC Stephens went to the party in Treorchy, Rhondda Cynon Taf, despite having an "expectation to enforce the law" regarding the Covid restrictions.

But, the officer then took the "extraordinary" decision to drive after drinking, with "no thought to other road users", Mr Branston said.

'Distressed'

PC Stephens' representative had argued she had been "distressed" after recently dealing with her first sudden death while on duty.

Then when she visited her aunt's home on 25 April last year to seek help processing the death, she was also then told of historic sexual allegations against a family member.

But misconduct panel chairwoman Susan Ridge said: "We are satisfied the impact of these issues was not a factor on the night.

"More likely than not you wanted company, took a bottle of wine to a relative's house, drank alcohol there, then chose to drive."

The hearing was told PC Stephens walked home from the four-person party in Conway Road at around midnight to her own home, then got in her car despite drinking.

She was even stopped by two of her police colleagues, who were said to have not noticed she was over the limit, and she carried on with her car journey despite being reminded of the stay-at-home restrictions by one of the officers, the hearing heard.

PC Stephens drove for about two miles before crashing into the wall of a shop on Gelli Road, Pentre.

Ms Ridge said the officer's conviction at Merthyr Tydfil Magistrates' Court in July last year had undermined confidence in policing - and that her decision to drive showed she gave "no other thought to others while driving when unfit due to alcohol".

'Genuine remorse'

She was found to have 90 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, with the legal limit to drive being 35mg of alcohol.

PC Stephens was given a conditional discharge for 12 months and banned from driving for 15 months after pleading guilty.

Despite acknowledging PC Stephens had shown "genuine remorse", Ms Ridge added: "We've concluded that your conduct, taken as a whole, is so serious that nothing less than dismissal is needed to maintain public confidence."

PC Stephens told the misconduct hearing she accepted attending the house party, driving when unfit, and being convicted in court.

She also accepted each of the allegations amounts to discreditable conduct, and also amounted to gross misconduct, with the panel later reaching the same conclusion.