Former police officer sentenced for misconduct

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Friday, 25 September 2020 23:57

A former police officer has been sentenced after entering guilty pleas to two counts of misconduct in a public office.

In April this year Gary Brennan, 41, from Telford, was issued with a postal requisition to appear at court for offences committed between November 2017 and May 2018. This related to the inappropriate use of his work mobile phone and also allegations that he had accessed force systems to contact women whilst working for West Mercia Police. On Monday 17^th August he entered a guilty plea to the charges.

Gary Brennan had been employed by West Mercia Police for 17 years but resigned at the beginning of October 2018. Despite having left the force a misconduct hearing was held by the Chief Constable on 18^th October 2018 after an internal investigation found he had used his work phone to take inappropriate photos of himself whilst on duty.

Today (Friday 25^th September), he was sentenced to eight months suspended for 18 months and eight weeks suspended for 18 months. The sentences will run concurrently.

The hearing found that Brennan’s conduct amounted to gross misconduct and concluded that he would have been dismissed, had he still been a member of the force. He was added to the Barred List, preventing him from re-joining the police service.

Head of the West Mercia Police Professional Standards Department, Superintendent Rebecca Love said: “We expect the highest standards of professional behaviour from all of our officers. Following our investigation and a special case hearing it was found that Gary Brennan breached the standards of behaviour that are essential in serving our communities as a police officer. This is why he was dismissed from the force and criminal proceedings instigated which have resulted in this sentence today.”