Ex-Police Federation chairman committed gross misconduct by making comment about widow

The former chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales has been found by a disciplinary tribunal to have committed gross misconduct by making a comment about a police widow.

John Apter was found to have said he would like to "comfort" PC Andrew Harper's widow Lissie in his hotel room, shortly before she collected a posthumous award on behalf of her late husband.

PC Harper, who worked for Thames Valley Police, was killed while responding to a bike theft by three teenagers in Berkshire in August 2019 just four weeks after getting married.

Hampshire Constabulary disciplinary tribunal's legally qualified chair Giles Pengelly said of Mr Apter's conduct: "We find the comment made about Lissie Harper proved and is proved to the level of gross misconduct."

Mr Apter, who retired as a PC from Hampshire Constabulary in 2022, was cleared of making a comment about a colleague and of touching a woman's bottom.

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