Plebgate row police sorry for ‘poor judgment’

Tuesday 22 OcTOber 2013 Three police officers caught up in the “plebgate” row have apologised for “poor judgment in talking to the media” after a meeting with former Conservative chief whip Andrew Mitchell.

Inspector Ken MacKaill, Detective Sergeant Stuart hinton and Sergeant Chris Jones were spared misconduct proceedings by an internal police investigation after they were accused of trying to discredit the politician.

But the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) later disputed the West Mercia Police investigation’s findings and said there were issues of “honesty and integrity” among the three Police Federation representatives.

In a statement issued by the Police Federation, the three officers did not apologise for their comments and insisted they never intended to mislead anyone.

It said: “The reputation of, and public confidence in, the police service is of immense concern to each of us. We acknowledge the investigation’s criticism relating to our poor judgment in talking to the media following the meeting with Andrew Mitchell, for which we take this opportunity to apologise.

“We would like to emphasise – as we did to the investigation – that in no way did any of us ever plan or intend to mislead anyone about what occurred during this meeting or otherwise.”

Mr Mitchell met the Police Federation representatives after he was accused of calling officers guarding Downing Street “plebs” in a foul-mouthed rant as he was asked to cycle through a side gate on 19 September last year.

A transcript showed Mr Mitchell apologised for swearing at the police officers but denied using the word “plebs”, In comments made after the meeting Mr MacKaill claimed the former Tory chief whip refused to provide an account of the incident.

The three officers have been called to appear before the home affairs select committee to provide a “full explanation” of what happened.