Officer was drunk in police van, court told
MISCONDUCT IN PUBLIC OFFICE DENIED
AN on-duty Northumbria Police officer who was found drunk and slumped inside a police van was going through “tough times”, a jury has heard.
Helen Kane was over three times the legal drink-drive limit when a dog walker found her asleep behind the wheel of a parked police van on November 3 last year.
The marked van, which also contained three police dogs, was seen parked in the middle of a junction on Waggs Lane in Whickham, near Gateshead with its engine still running.
When the member of the public took a look inside, Kane could be seen “slumped” against the driver side of the car with a bottle of white wine between her legs.
Kane, 38, of Belmont, County Durham, is standing trial at Teesside Crown Court charged with misconduct in a public office. She denies the charge.
Yesterday, Kane gave evidence and told the jury she was going through “personal and professional” difficulties at the time. The jury heard that Kane was on duty and in uniform at the time and had been on a training course that morning.
Putting questions to her, defence barrister Steven Reed asked: “Do you accept, that on November 3 last year, you were drunk on duty?” Kane replied: “Yes”. Mr Reed continued: “Why were you drunk that day?” Kane replied: “I was going through some tough times, both professionally and personally.”
Kane told the jury that her professional troubles stemmed from a protest in Newcastle city centre when a member of the public was bitten by a police dog. She said: “My police dog was wrongly identified as that dog. As a result, I was advised by Northumbria Police there was a risk to me.”
Kane said that due to other issues in her personal life, she went to see a GP
regarding her stress and anxiety and was prescribed anti-depressants. She explained she did not like taking time off work and “used alcohol to cope”.
Asked why she drank on that day, she said: “At that point, I was drinking to get through the day.”
She also said she “believed” she was probably drunk when she turned up to work her 7am to 7pm shift that day. Kane was asked why she did not notify her employer about being unfit to work. She said: “I didn’t realise how ill I was at that time”, adding she did not want to lose her place in her department.
The jury heard that Kane had one previous conviction, which was for driving with excess alcohol relating to the same incident, which she had admitted. After being found behind the wheel of the van, Kane was said to be “slurring” when speaking to the dog walker and was later taken to Southwick Police Station in Sunderland where she was breath tested. She gave a reading of 117 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath – the legal limit is 35 micrograms.
In his closing speech, Mr Reed told the jury: “This defendant knows what she did was wrong, she’s not trying to hide from that...but it is not serious enough to amount to misconduct in public office. Did she deliberately set out to harm the public interest? No. She was suffering from an illness at the time.”
The case continues.