A SERVING Barrow PC who was dismissed from Cumbria police made a Facebook post which was likely to cause offence to members of the Muslim faith, a misconduct report has revealed.

Ross Lister was a serving PC in the town but was dismissed following a Misconduct Special Case Hearing held on September 27 at Cumbria Constabulary headquarters.

Details of the comment were not made public while the Crown Prosecution Service considered whether Mr Lister should be charged with an offence of posting malicious communications.

Yesterday, prosecutors announced that "the comment made on social media does not meet the very high threshold necessary for a criminal prosecution" following a further review of the evidence.

Cumbria police's Chief Constable Jerry Graham's deliberation in deciding to sack Mr Lister has now been made public.



At last week's hearing, the chief constable said: "The conduct admitted by PC Lister today is not suggesting that he is racist, per se, but refers to a Facebook post that he wrote that he either knew or should have known, or at least reasonably have foreseen, would have caused offence and be considered derogatory to members of the Muslim faith and by people of other faiths and none.

"By posting such a comment on Facebook he should have known that he could not control its readership.

"Although this conduct occurred off duty, PC Lister was, or should have been, aware that the Code of Ethics applies at all times and in all circumstances to police officers. I note that within the bundle PC Lister has been given an input on the Code of Ethics as recently as 2017.

"The communities of Cumbria expect officers and staff to act on their behalf with integrity, fairness and judgement. The trust of local communities, particularly minority groups, is hard won and easily lost.

"Officers and staff need to demonstrate a higher level of even temperament and respond more proportionately than other members of the public, particularly at times of social stress and anxiety.

"Regrettably, PC Lister has exhibited a very serious failure of judgement by posting such a comment without considering the potential impact on how people may perceive him and his judgement and fairness.

"In doing so he has damaged the reputation of the constabulary and undermined public confidence.

"PC Lister’s behaviour and judgement has fallen so far below the standards expected that I have decided to dismiss him from the constabulary without notice."