Policeman barred from the force for racist and homophobic comments

A NEWBURY police officer made racist, homophobic comments to colleagues, a disciplinary tribunal heard.

The Thames Valley Police misconduct hearing was told on Thursday, November 18, that shocked colleagues had reported the officer.

The accused, former PC Perry Greenhalf, denied gross misconduct, but resigned ahead of the hearing at police HQ in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, and was therefore not present.

Barrister George Thomas, prosecuting, told the tribunal the officer had made offensive remarks before entering an Asian family’s home, stating that Pakistan was a “smelly and dirty” place and that the family’s home would be likewise.

The accused officer’s paired colleague, PC Michael Rice, told the hearing: “I reminded Perry about wearing a mask [because] we want to be setting an example and following the rules. Perry did not particularly buy into the Covid thing and did not care about the restrictions.

“He said ‘the house will smell of curry anyway... Pakistan is a dirty, smelly country.’

“The fact that he was making a comment like that so early on [in our working relationship] caused me some concern.”

The tribunal heard that PC Greenhalf also used homophobic slurs to describe a teenage boy, identified only as P, who was a victim of child sexual exploitation.

When discussing the teenager PC Greenhalf made bigoted, sexualised comments to his colleague, PC Laura Greaves. She told the hearing: “There was absolutely no need for that.

“[PC Greenhalf] came across like he never really wanted to be a police officer and he came across like he could say and do whatever he liked and he did not care.”

The tribunal heard that this was not the only homophobic slur PC Greenhalf had made while on patrol in public.

Another witness, PC Adey-Butt, told the hearing: “I’m proud to wear this uniform and it makes me angry that someone else who gets to wear this uniform could say a thing like that.”

The hearing was told that former PC Greenhalf also aimed homophobic slurs at his own colleagues.

The tribunal convicted Greenhalf of all the allegations of homophobic comments he made.

However, they cleared him of making a racist comment about a Pakistani family’s house smelling of curry.

The panel found, however, that he had called the country “smelly and dirty”.

Greenhalf was convicted of gross misconduct.

Hearing chairwoman Chiew Yin Jones said: “By our findings, that the former officer had breached the standards of equality and diversity by making racist and homophobic comments, we concluded that the former officer had discriminated against those protected characteristics... this misconduct is considered particularly serious.”

The panel determined that the former officer would have been dismissed if he had still been a member of a police force. Former PC Greenhalf has also been placed on the police ‘barred list’ which prevents him from applying to join another force in the future.