The former leader of the Police Federation made a sexual remark about the widow of an officer killed while on duty shortly before meeting her, a discipline tribunal has heard.
John Apter is alleged to have said he would like to “comfort” the widow of PC Andrew Harper in his hotel room. The remarks were alleged to have been made just months after PC Harper’s death and shortly before his widow, Lissie, was due to collect a posthumous award on behalf of her late husband.
PC Harper, who served with the Thames Valley force, died after being dragged for more than a mile behind a car in August 2019 as he tried to thwart the theft of a quad bike. His feet became trapped in a tow rope attached to a car used by the thieves and he died from the injuries he suffered.
Three men were jailed for his manslaughter and Lissie Harper became a hero within policing after fighting, unsuccessfully, for a longer sentence for her husband’s killers and successfully for a new law, Harper’s Law, which mandates a life sentence for the killers of emergency service workers.
Apter is no longer chair of the Police Federation, which represents 145,000 rank and file officers in England and Wales. He was formerly a PC with the Hampshire force. He is also alleged to have said, in reference to Lissie Harper: “I wouldn’t mind looking after her tonight.”
Apter is also alleged to have groped a younger colleague’s bottom, claiming he was just scratching her back, and to have told a pregnant woman “maybe you’ll get a bum now”. The former police leader denies making the comments or touching that was sexual, the hearing in Eastleigh heard.
Presenting the case against Apter, the barrister Cecily White said Apter’s comments and behaviour showed a clear pattern and were “sexist and derogatory”. The discipline panel heard that the alleged comments about Lissie Harper came during a staff “huddle” before an award ceremony in January 2020.
Apter allegedly said to colleagues: “I’d like to comfort her in my hotel room.”
White said the comment was “sexual in nature” and the reaction of those hearing the comments was “awkward”.
The panel heard that in 2021, Apter touched a woman’s bottom before asking her: “Is that OK?” Apter later said he had scratched her back after she “lightheartedly” told him it was itchy, and denied inappropriate behaviour, the hearing was told.
The pregnant woman whom Apter was alleged to have said “maybe you’ll get a bum now”, told the hearing Apter was the victim of a “witch-hunt” and was a “really nice guy”.
Apter was suspended by the Police Federation, and suspended from duty by Hampshire constabulary, in December 2021.
Apter became a police officer in 1992. After a serving Met officer murdered Sarah Everard in March 2021, he demanded misogyny be wiped out from the ranks.
In 2021, he wrote in the Sunday Times: “We need to consign to the history books some of our canteen culture where sexist nicknames and derogatory remarks are made. When banter crosses the line to become sexist, derogatory or homophobic, that’s when it ceases to be banter.”
The hearing heard that former federation official Jamie Simpson talked of “blatant hypocrisy” at the top of the organisation: “On one hand they preach to members about sexism and misogyny, yet some of the things I have overheard … the same people say about women associated with the organisation, even the widow of an officer, is sickening.”
The disciplinary tribunal continues.
