This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A police officer accused of going missing on duty and eating a kebab while his concerned colleagues searched for him has been sacked following a misconduct hearing.

PC Richard Musgrave, 52, was dismissed without notice from Cambridgeshire police.

A four-day misconduct hearing in Peterborough concluded that he had breached professional standards in respect of honesty and integrity, discreditable conduct and duties and responsibilities.

It had been alleged that Musgrave went missing from March police station to give a woman and her friends a lift, then drove to an industrial estate to eat a kebab.

Officers triggered an emergency search for him as they were concerned for his welfare.

Musgrave claimed he had been on a burglary patrol on the industrial estate, his watch had stopped, his earpiece had come out of his radio and his mobile phone was on silent.

He allegedly later “dishonestly told the sergeant that he had gone to the industrial estate to finish writing a statement and had fallen asleep there”.

The incident was said to have happened on 31 July 2016. He was further accused of driving a marked vehicle to meet a woman at a Wetherspoon’s pub while on duty.

Some of the group the woman was drinking with were alleged to have behaved in a drunken or abusive manner and were refused service.

Musgrave was allegedly aware of the behaviour of the group but did not take adequate steps to address it and supplied a witness statement containing untrue information.