Jailed officer sacked after attack probe was derailed
ACORRUPT police officer who derailed a criminal investigation after persuading a teenage assault victim to drop charges has been sacked.
Mark Hopkins, 49, was jailed for four years at Cardiff Crown Court in July after being found guilty of perverting the course of public justice.
In November 2008 the former detective constable persuaded Richard Diaper, then 17, to withdraw his witness statement after he was hit in the head with a baseball bat outside the Ivor Hael petrol station in Tonypandy.
The attack was believed to have been a case of mistaken identity and five men linked to the garage were arrested on suspicion of assault.
Mr Diaper received threatening calls and messages telling him to drop the charges and was offered £3,000 by someone claiming he was from the Manchester drugs underworld who told him: “You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
After reporting the calls to the police Mr Diaper was visited by Hopkins at his home while he was off duty and Hopkins encouraged him to withdraw his witness statement.
In 2014 Hopkins, of Ton Pentre, Pentre, was reported by his ex-wife after their divorce. She claimed she saw him stuffing wads of cash between £500 and £1,000 into their kitchen cupboard. She said he also boasted about being offered loads of money by the petrol station owner if he could get the complaint dropped.
In a South Wales Police misconduct hearing, held at the force’s headquarters in Bridgend yesterday, deputy chief constable Richard Lewis found
the allegations of breaching honesty and integrity standards and of committing discreditable conduct proven. He also found that Hopkins’ behaviour amounted to gross misconduct.
In his judgment DCC Lewis said: “South Wales Police expects its officers to act with honesty, to act with integrity, and not to engage in conduct which is discreditable and brings the force into disrepute. DC Hopkins has seriously destroyed the trust South Wales Police and the public had in him as an officer.”
He added: “DC Hopkins was an experienced officer and understood the extent of his actions and understood the impact on the victim and the public’s confidence, which was grossly undermined in this case. This matter has undoubtedly brought the police service and South Wales Police into disrepute within our communities.”
Hopkins was dismissed from the force without notice and referred to the College of Policing, who will decide if he is barred from the policing profession.