PC used fake emails to get 26 free pints

A POLICE officer used fake email addresses to order dozens of free pints of lager as he watched England’s Euro 2020 win over Germany, a misconduct hearing has found.

Despite there being a one-perperson limit, PC Paul Elliott and his friends exploited a Heineken promotional offer in a Sheffield pub to secure 26 pints, a disciplinary panel heard.

Elliott, who had three years’ service, would have been sacked if he had not already resigned as a Humberside officer, ruled the tribunal members, who said his dishonesty amounted to gross misconduct.

The former officer also failed to disclose a speeding offence and that he had been identified as a suspect in a criminal investigation when he made an application to transfer to the Derbyshire force, the panel heard.

The hearing in Goole, East Yorkshire, heard that Elliott was with friends in the Loxley Sports Bar and Grill on June 29, 2021, when he took advantage of an offer of a free pint to anyone providing an email address and other personal details to a table service ordering app.

Chelsea Brooke-Ward, for the prosecuting authority, said Elliott realised the app did not verify the email addresses and ordered multiple pints with made-up details.

Miss Brooke-Ward said Elliott and his friends were thought to have received 26 free lagers, adding that Heineken eventually realised there was a problem with the app verifying email addresses and withdrew the offer.

The panel’s chairman, Nick Hawkins, said Elliott would have been dismissed if he was still serving, adding: ‘Such behaviour is discreditable and undermines public trust and confidence in policing.’