Headbutts, crashes and lies – list of Derbyshire police sackings

Derbyshire Police Headquarters stock image. Image by LDRS/Nigel Slater.

Derbyshire police holds itself to the highest standards – but there are times when its own staff brings it to shame.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service frequently covers police misconduct hearings where officers are questioned over allegations of gross misbehaviour.

Here we take a look at some of the most serious misconduct hearings held within the past few years – which have seen officers dismissed with immediate effect.

Officers have been dismissed for shocking assaults, trying to cover up serious faults and other serious breaches of policing standards.

Here is a list of officers sacked after serious breaches of police standards.

Nicholas Lovatt
Traffic cop Nicholas Lovatt was dismissed after it was found he committed serious road traffic offences.

A misconduct hearing heard how he was found to have driven two motorbikes without insurance or valid MOT repeatedly.

He admitted to have driven his own motorbike without insurance and whilst it was registered as SORN 16 times between September and November last year.

Lovatt insured his own motorbike on November 25th and was stopped by an officer on November 26th, when he claimed the bike had “not been on the road for ages”, despite having driven it for over two months.

Kashir Saghir
Saghir was shown the door at Derbyshire police after he tried to pursue a relationship with a domestic abuse victim.

Following a trial, Saghir, from Nottingham, was found guilty of misconduct in public office and given a nine-month jail term, suspended for 12 months, on 22nd May.

After giving the woman his personal phone number, the following week he visited her house with a cake for her daughter’s birthday, the force said.

When the woman said that her daughter needed to go to bed, police said Saghir followed her upstairs into her child’s bedroom, where he cuddled the girl and kissed her on her head while reading her a bedtime story.

The force said two days later, Saghir turned up at her house again and stayed late into the evening.

The College of Policing states officers are “strictly prohibited” from forming relationships with vulnerable members of the public who they meet in the course of their duties.

Matthew Longmate
Longmate was dismissed after he had sex in a patrol car with a drunken woman whilst on duty

Longmate was on duty with a colleague when they were called to an incident at The Association bar in Chesterfield and offered to take the woman home.

He was originally given a 12-month suspended sentence after he was found guilty by a jury of one count of misconduct in public office.

But the Court of Appeal quashed Longmate’s previous sentence and sentenced him to 11 months in prison.

The former officer was dismissed by Derbyshire Constabulary following an accelerated disciplinary hearing after his conviction.

Gemma Cumberlidge
Cumberlige was dismissed after a number of serious failures put an alleged domestic abuse victim “at risk of harm”.

A misconduct hearing found Cumberlidge had failed to “adequately carry out her duties” while investigating a domestic abuse case and carrying out a stop and search on a teenager.

Cumberlidge failed to ask the domestic abuse victim all of the required questions as part of vital safeguarding checks and then put “No” as answers to most of the questions “without having answers from Person A (the alleged victim)”.

Joshua Beardsley
PC Beardsley was sacked because he lied about a car accident on a Derby street on his way to a murder investigation.

It was heard he covered up details after colliding into a parked car on Radbourne Street in the summer of last year.

Beardsley denied he had been dishonest and denied his actions amounted to gross misconduct. The officer claimed he “forgot” to report the incident to colleagues immediately afterwards due to the stress of the murder investigation had placed on him. 

But an independent panel found he had “ample opportunity” in the following days when he had time off to report the incident “but he chose not to do so”. 

Mark Knights
Knights was dismissed without notice after he was convicted of assaulting a member of the public while on duty.

Following a row over traffic in Ambergate, Knights headbutted the victim. Derbyshire police described the incident as “wholly unacceptable” for a serving police officer.

The victim, whose young son was in the car at the time, sustained a cut lip from the assault and was mentally shaken up.

It was reported he got almost £20,000 in compensation.

Knights told a misconduct hearing that headbutting the victim was his way of acting in self-defence. But the officer was given instant dismissal.