A POLICE officer has been sacked after being found guilty of gross misconduct for making a number of abusive and derogatory comments aimed at celebrities and sportspeople on Twitter as well as accessing the details of known criminals.
PC Graham Wise used his social media account to brand reality TV star Gemma Collins a ‘fat ****’ and a ‘lazy fat f*****’ while turning his venom on former Eastender’s star Daniella Westbrook who he called a ‘washed up coke head with only one nostril’.
Gemma Collins
The experienced officer also turned his ire onto sportsmen including heavyweight boxers Dillian Whyte and Shannon Briggs.
The officer was accused of sending numerous Tweets between June last year, when Benefits Street featuring Stockton, an area where he policed, was being aired, and January this year when Celebrity Big Brother was the focus of his foul-mouthed outbursts.
PC Wise accepted that he posted the Tweets but maintained that he believed they would be viewed only by close friends and family amongst his 170 followers.
PC Wise, pictured in this Northern Echo photo from 2011
And he blamed his behaviour on mental health issues that resulted in the officer being signed off work for a few months before returning to desk-based duties, where he was accused of accessing the details of known criminals.
The tribunal was told that he had attended school in Middlesbrough with two of the people he looked out on the force’s computer system and that he knew the others were also involved in supplying drugs in the area.
During the misconduct hearing at Cleveland Police headquarters, panel chairman Gerry Sydenham said the language and abuse used on Twitter was the 'antithesis of being a police office both on and off duty'.
And dealing with the misuse of the force's computer system, he said: "There is no evidence it (information on known criminals) was shared with any third party. The breaches were serious and serious enough to be gross misconduct."
PC Wise was suspended in March this year.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article