Police officer who 'lied about eating a kebab while on duty' is sacked

Cambridgeshire force allege Richard Musgrave changed his story twice

PC Richard Musgrave was said to have stopped off for a kebab (File photo) (AP)

A police officer who was accused of eating a kebab while on duty and then lying about what he was doing when his colleagues launched a frantic search for him, has been sacked.

PC Richard Musgrave went missing from March police station, near Peterborough, in the early hours of 31 July.

He could not be contacted by phone or radio Cambridgeshire Police alleged in documents submitted ahead of his misconduct hearing.

He had taken a marked car to pick up a woman and her friends and drop them at another person’s house before he "drove to an industrial estate in the Hundred Road area and ate a kebab,” they added.

Fellow officers launched an emergency search because they were concerned about his welfare, the documents alleged.

PC Musgrave, 52, claimed he had been on a burglary patrol on the industrial estate, his watch had stopped, his ear piece had come out of his radio and his mobile phone was on silent.

He was later alleged to have changed his story and “dishonestly” told his sergeant that he had gone to the industrial estate to finish writing a statement. There, he was alleged to have said that he fell asleep.

Challenged over this second version of events, the force said that he had “dishonestly told the sergeant that he had seen [the woman] in town, had gone to pick her up, took her home and had something to eat there."

PC Musgrave was further accused of driving a marked vehicle to meet the same woman at a Wetherspoon pub while on duty in the evening of 31 July.

Some of the group the woman was drinking with were said to have behaved in a drunken or abusive manner and were refused service.

The officer was allegedly aware of the behaviour of the group but did not take adequate steps to address it and supplied a witness statement containing incomplete and untrue information.

He was sacked without notice after he was found to have breached standards on “honesty and integrity, discreditable conduct and duties and responsibilities,” Cambridgeshire Police said in a statement.

He had denied gross misconduct and said he “deeply regrets” his actions.

Additional reporting by agencies