A Merseyside police officer accused of making inappropriate sexual comments towards two female colleagues fell foul of "political factors" after the murder of Sarah Everard, his lawyer claimed.
PC Michael Baines, who was still in his probationary period, was reported for "making sex noises" and "playing with his genitalia" as well as making inappropriate comments, on several occasions between July and September, 2021.
He stands accused of multiple breaches of police professional standards, which if found proved could mean his immediate dismissal for gross misconduct, as well as being placed on the College of Policing Barred List, prohibiting him from holding any policing job in future.
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Sarah Everard was kidnapped, raped and murdered by serving Metropolitan Police office Wayne Couzens in March, 2021, who tricked the lone 33-year-old into getting into his car by showing his warrant card. It later emerged several red flags about his behaviour had been ignored and the tragedy sparked a national debate about misogyny in police culture.
Today a misconduct hearing, overseen by independent legally qualified chairman Paul Forster, heard an application to have misconduct proceedings halted for abuse of process. The full details of PC Baines' alleged behaviour was not shared during the public hearing.
Nicholas Walker, representing PC Baines, said his client was initially told he would be placed on an improvement plan to address his behaviour, and if he shaped up "that would be the end of it".
Mr Walker claimed that PC Baines had a "legitimate expectation" that his case would be dealt with by his superiors at the training academy rather than via the formal misconduct process.
Mr Walker told the hearing, held virtually over video call, that PC Baines had received an email from Sergeant Jennifer Williams in the force's training academy on October 6, 2021. The email suggested that advice had been sought from the Professional Standards Department (PSD), which deals with misconduct, about whether formal proceedings should be brought against the officer but that the improvement plan would be implemented instead.
However, two weeks later PSD conducted a "severity assessment" and decided to initiate misconduct proceedings. Mr Walker pointed to a comment made by Detective Chief Inspector Craig Sumner, of the PSD, suggesting the "climate" after the murder of Sarah Everard and the impact of misogyny on the "confidence and trust" in policing was taken into account.
Mr Walker said: "There are political rather than legal factors that are beginning to be taken into account over the course of the severity assessment."
Mr Walker highlighted emails from Sgt Williams, in which she describes PC Baines as a "good student" and suggested that "sometimes young people do silly and daft things to fit in", suggesting there had been a disagreement on how to deal with his behaviour.
He said: "You might come away thinking there has been an almighty argument between two departments of Merseyside Police. This probationary officer should not be tossed around as part of that argument."
However James Berry, representing the force, said there had been "miscommunication" from Sgt Williams and that she did not have the authority to make the decision. He said the officer had only been placed on the "improvement plan" for two weeks and had not suffered any detriment by the confusion, and denied there had been any abuse of process.
The panel retired to consider the application, and will announce its ruling at a later date. If the panel rules in favour of Merseyside Police, the allegations will be considered on March 6.
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