A policeman who was convicted of perverting the course of justice by telling lies about a woman he was "obsessed" with has been sacked from the force with immediate effect. South Wales Police PC Abubakar Masum made up lies about a young woman after becoming "obsessed" with her.
Masum, of Page Street in Swansea, was a serving officer when he invented claims about Tesco worker Mia Pitman and others. The 24-year-old lied that Ms Pitman had shot an Albanian drug dealer. Read more about his trial here. He was remanded in custody following his conviction on two counts of of perverting the course of justice and one of gaining unauthorised access to the police computer system and is awaiting sentencing.
At an accelerated misconduct hearing on Tuesday, May 3, Masum faced allegations of breaching several standards of professional behaviour including honesty and integrity, confidentiality, and discreditable conduct. The misconduct panel found allegations proven which amounted to gross misconduct. Masum was unable to attend in person due to the fact he remained in custody and chose not to be legally represented. He did not submit a written response or state whether he admitted to the allegations or accepted his conduct amounted to gross misconduct.
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The panel delivered the sanction of dismissal. Chief constable Jeremy Vaughan said: "I have found the allegations to be proved and that the conduct amounts to gross misconduct. My decision on outcome is that I am satisfied that PC Masum be immediately dismissed."
The reasons for the breaches of the policing standards of professional behaviour amounted to the same as those giving rise to the criminal charges, Mr Vaughan added. He said: "It is entirely unacceptable for police officers, who are responsible for enforcing the law, to break the law themselves. The offence of perverting the course of public justice is particularly serious and increases the seriousness of the misconduct. There can be no doubt that PC Masum’s criminal conviction has an adverse impact on public confidence in policing." A referral will now be made to the College of Policing for Masum to be added to the barring list preventing him from returning to the profession.
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