The policeman breathalyzed the sergeant at 5 am “because of a grudge”

An Avon & Somerset police dog handler pulled over his former boss for allegedly drink-driving at 5am because of a grudge, a misconduct hearing was told. PC Lee Umpleby lay in wait near Sgt Steve Knight’s home and followed his car for five miles before traffic officers stopped and breathalyzed him, which came back negative, the tribunal heard.

The constable, who is accused of serious misconduct, told the hearing that his former manager at Ministry of Defense (MoD) Police in Corsham, Wiltshire, was a “bully” who many colleagues believed drove him to work at weekends after he drank last night. PC Umpleby, based in Almondsbury, South Gloucestershire, resigned from Ministry Police because he could no longer work with Sgt Knight and joined Avon & Somerset Constabulary where he “engineered” the roadside stop, it was said.

He denied it was “payback” for his former boss who refused “excessive” mileage claims, leading to a disciplinary finding of misconduct against PC Umpleby following an internal review of his expenses. PC Umpleby said he arranged for the car to be stopped because he feared someone could be killed, either on the road or through Sgt Knight’s role as a firearms officer.

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When the officer resigned from Corsham, he left a copy of a letter to the Ministry of Defense chief constable on display in the station for his colleagues to see, criticizing Sgt Knight who called it “character assassination” , the commission heard. Barrister Louise Ravenscroft, representing Avon & Somerset Police, said: “This case concerns the planned and deliberate conduct of PC Umpleby in engineering a road traffic stop in relation to his former line manager, Sgt Knight, on the premise that he could be driving under the influence. of alcohol.

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“PC Umpleby had no reliable or credible evidence or information to suggest that Sgt Knight could be drink driving on 14 May 2023 after consuming alcohol the night before. PC Umpleby used his position as a police officer to pursue an earlier complaint he had with Sgt Knight.

“This is a complaint and an association he has not told anyone about. This was a deliberate omission by PC Umpleby to ensure that he could be personally involved in the eventual roadside stop.”

The pair’s relationship became more strained after the constable became a representative of the Police Federation, she said. Ms Ravenscroft said: “Sgt Knight’s account provided occasions when he was secretly recorded by PC Umpleby to remove issues he wanted to advance.”

PC Umpleby told the first day of the hearing from Avon & Somerset force headquarters in Portishead on Monday June 3: “There are huge risks in carrying a firearm. You must be fit for duty. If you are drunk and make the slightest mistake, you can kill someone.

“I couldn’t walk away from this situation because someone could be killed, if not because of his leadership, then because of his role at the Ministry of Defence.” He said the pair clashed because they disagreed with the way Sergeant Knight was running the station.

PC Umpleby said: “He was a bully and used this to intimidate other officers. I challenged him on this several times, which he ignored and denied.

“I tried a non-combative way of dealing with it by becoming the Police Federation representative at the station.” He said that after two meetings, Sgt Knight, the officer in charge of the police station, refused to have any more.

PC Umpleby, a police officer since 2006 who joined the MoD Police seven years ago, said: “I eventually resigned (from the Ministry role) because it was impossible to work with Sgt Knight as well. The letter was my resignation that I wrote to the Chief Constable stating my concerns.

“I left a copy at the station not to upset or ridicule him, but because I felt I was abandoning everyone at the station. It wasn’t character assassination, it was an attempt for me to justify to everyone why I was leaving.”

He admitted that he recorded the meetings on his pocket phone without telling Sergeant Knight because he had dyslexia and struggled to remember details and was embarrassed to tell his manager why he had to do this, but that the sergeant was “very upset” when he found out. PC Umpleby claimed he saw his manager drunk at work twice on weekend shifts, slurring his words and in a “disordered state” but could not get close enough to smell the alcohol.

He said no one could report it at the time because it would cause problems for colleagues. The officer said: “I have lost complete faith in the system. Attempting to report this through the appropriate chain was impossible.

“I would suffer for it. There would be repercussions.” PC Umpleby said the only way to be sure Sergeant Knight was drink-driving was to breathalyze him on the way to work on a weekend.

He said: “On reflection I shouldn’t have turned up at the scene but I would always stop at a traffic stop to support my colleagues. It was of no benefit to me to see Sgt Knight take the breathalyzer.”

Body-worn camera footage showed the sergeant telling traffic officers at 5am that his last drink was at 10.30pm the night before. PC Umpleby said Sgt Knight should not have been drinking alcohol because of Ministry Police rules for officers with firearms.

He said: “I think Sgt Knight drives to work. I could have done things differently, but this was what had to be done.

“He wasn’t taken to a police station, he wasn’t humiliated, he took his breathalyzer test, which is a screening. I think my actions prevented him from doing that.”

PC Umpleby admits misconduct but denies serious misconduct. He also denies obtaining unauthorized information about his former sergeant’s shift pattern, failing to tell Avon & Somerset Police about their previous association and also failing to file an intelligence report. The hearing continues.