Twelve-month term for officer who admitted making false claim in row that led to minister losing his cabinet role

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

A Scotland Yard diplomatic protection officer has been jailed after he admitted lying about witnessing the Plebgate row that caused the resignation of a cabinet minister.

Constable Keith Wallis was sentenced to 12 months in prison when he appeared at the Old Bailey in central London on Thursday.

Wallis remained impassive and stared straight ahead out of the court dock as his sentence was handed down by the judge, Mr Justice Sweeney. He looked up at tearful members of his family as he was led by a security guard down into the court cells.

Wallis is the only police officer to have admitted wrongdoing over the Plebgate saga, which prompted a huge row and resulted in Andrew Mitchell losing his role in David Cameron's cabinet.

Sentencing Wallis, Sweeney described the officer's actions as a "betrayal" of police standards and said it had caused a "significant negative impact on public trust and confidence in the integrity of police officers".

The judge added: "This was sustained, and in significant measure, devious misconduct which fell far below the standards expected of a police officer."

The Independent Police Complaints Commission, which investigated the Plebgate saga, said in a statement after the sentencing: "The patchwork of evidence from emails, text messages and telephone calls does not suggest an organised conspiracy to bring down a Cabinet Minister."

However, the watchdog said there was clearly collusion between certain officer to "blow the whistle on bad behaviour toward one of their own" which ultimately led to Mitchell's downfall.

"The actions of PC Wallis – and the other officers responsible for turning a largely inaudible altercation lasting less than a minute into a national scandal – have not only caused injustice to Mr Mitchell, they have brought shame upon the police service," said IPCC commissioner Deborah Glass.

The Old Bailey heard earlier that Wallis, who served for 30 years with the Metropolitan police, wanted to be jailed because "he thinks everyone would be better off without him".

Wallis, 53, last month pleaded guilty to falsely claiming in an email to his MP, the Conservative deputy chief whip John Randall, that he had witnessed the confrontation at the gates of Downing Street on 19 September 2012.

The row erupted when Mitchell confronted another police officer, Toby Rowland, after he was refused permission to cycle through the main gate of Downing Street. Mitchell admitted swearing but has strenuously denied Rowland's claim that he used the word "pleb".

The Old Bailey heard that Wallis was "angry and intoxicated" when he falsely claimed to have witnessed the Plebgate row

Wallis listened without expression in the court dock as his barrister pleaded with the judge, Mr Justice Sweeney, to spare him jail, describing the officer's actions as a "sad and solitary piece of grave foolishness" by a man suffering from acute anxiety and depression over the death of his father some years ago.

The prosecutor, Zoe Martin, told the court that Wallis had told police after being arrested at his home in December 2012: "I knew I should have thrown myself under a train yesterday."

Described as a loyal foot soldier with 30 years' experience in the Metropolitan police, Wallis was part of the diplomatic protection office that shares an office in Whitehall with some of the group who guarded Downing Street at the time of the Plebgate row.

Wallis was off duty on the day of the incident, the court heard, but had picked up on "office gossip and rumour" about what Mitchell had said when he returned to work the next day.

After finishing his shift at 2pm, Wallis consumed a significant amount of alcohol before returning to his home in West Drayton, west London.

When he returned home he sent an email at 9.52pm to his MP, the then deputy chief whip John Randall, in which he said he was disgusted to hear Mitchell use "gutter language" and show "yobbish and loutish behaviour" towards police officers.

Wallis claimed in the email, which the prosecution said was littered with capital letters and grammatical errors, that he had witnessed the incident along with his nephew, who mistakenly thought that Mitchell was Boris Johnson.

He signed off by saying he did not wish for Mitchell to be sacked over the incident, but that he wished to register his displeasure and realised that "nothing will come of this letter".

But after sending the email events "got completely out of hand" and he did not have the mental capacity to come clean, his lawyer, Patrick Gibbs QC, said.

Wallis continued to maintain that he had witnessed the incident, even when his claim became central to a Downing Street inquiry into the affair. The court heard that, as the pressure on the officer grew, he even took his young nephew to a meeting with Randall to back up his story.

Wallis only admitted he had not seen the incident when confronted with Downing Street CCTV footage during his first police interview.

The officer was disconsolate and apologetic during two police interviews. "I 100% convinced myself I was there. I visualised myself standing there," he told the interviewing officers.

"I thought in a strange way I was backing up my colleagues. I wasn't. I was doing the wrong thing and it's all exploded. I was doing the wrong thing. I don't know why."

He apologised to all of the parties involved, telling officers interviewing him: "I've let everyone down … All I can say is I'm really, really sorry. Really sorry."

In a statement issued after the sentencing, the Metropolitan police chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said that Wallis would now be subject to a misconduct process.

Hogan-Howe said: "PC Wallis's actions have clearly fallen way below the standards that me, my fellow police officers and the public demand.

"I expect my officers to serve the public without fear or favour. Where officers break the law they must expect to be held to account and answer for what they have done.

"Yesterday, I apologised personally to Mr Mitchell that an MPS officer clearly lied about seeing him behaving in a certain manner. Today, I apologise to the public for PC Wallis's behaviour."

A further seven Metropolitan police officers are facing disciplinary action over the affair, including four who will be subject to gross misconduct hearings in March over claims that they leaked information to the media.

Scotland Yard has said previously that Wallis, who has offered to resign from the force, would face a misconduct hearing at the conclusion of the legal proceedings.

Mitchell has also initiated libel proceedings against the Sun, arguing that he has been defamed by reports that claimed he used the word "plebs".