PC banned from police work for breaching bail

POLICE officer who was arrested and then breached his bail conditions by contacting a woman he was ordered to stay away from has been sacked without notice.

- ADAM POSTANS Local Democracy Reporter

PC Thomas West was found to have committed gross misconduct by a police misconduct panel after a two-day hearing at Avon and Somerset Police headquarters in Portishead. He will also be barred from policing and other law enforcement.

The officer was issued with a lawful order in March 2024 not to get in touch with the woman, Miss A, directly or indirectly following criminal allegations against him and was suspended from duty.

But in the early hours of May 6 last year while off-duty he saw her apparently drunk and alone on the street in Weston-super-Mare and “stupidly” decided to put her safety before his conditions of police bail and started to walk her to a taxi rank to get her home okay.

But a woman assaulted Miss A, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in an unprovoked attack as they walked from St James Street to the High Street before a man intervened as PC West tried to chase and detain her.

The man punched the officer six times in the head, causing cuts, a black eye and bruised cheek.