Ex-Gwent DC dismissed at an accelerated gross misconduct hearing

A former officer, who made an inappropriate comment and inappropriately touched a colleague while off-duty on a work Christmas night out would have been dismissed for conduct amounting to gross misconduct had he remained in post.

The public hearing, held on Thursday 25 January, found Mark Peploe breached standards of professional behaviour on four occasions, namely standard one – ‘honesty and integrity’, standard two – ‘authority, respect and courtesy’, standard three ‘equality and diversity’ and standard nine – ‘discreditable conduct’.

Former DC Peploe denies all three allegations relating to the evening of December 2022 or that he has breached the standards of professional behaviour.

After reviewing CCTV footage and the accounts of witnesses, Chief Constable Pam Kelly found that all allegations against former DC Peploe were proven and amounts to gross misconduct.

Chief Constable Pam Kelly said: “The allegations against former detective Mark Peploe were found proven following indisputable evidence against him.

“The behaviour of this former officer is totally unacceptable, and I am hugely grateful to the members of staff who have stepped forward allowing us to tackle this head-on and remove this individual.

“We will continue to send a clear message to colleagues and the public that we will pursue and remove those who damage confidence in Gwent Police as our communities expect and deserve the highest standards of the officers who serve them.”

Former DC Peploe, who had resigned from the service in January, did not attend the hearing.

The former officer will now be placed on the list of barred officers preventing him from working for any police service in future.