Ex-Police Federation head committed gross misconduct with sexual comment

A former head of the Police Federation of England and Wales has been found by a disciplinary tribunal to have committed gross misconduct by making a sexual comment about police widow Lissie Harper.

John Apter, who retired as a Pc from Hampshire Constabulary in 2022, was found by the panel to have said that he would like to “comfort” Pc Andrew Harper’s widow Lissie in his hotel room, shortly before she collected a posthumous award on behalf of her late husband.

Pc Harper, who worked for Thames Valley Police, was killed while responding to a bike theft by three teenagers in Berkshire in August 2019 just four weeks after getting married.

The panel, sitting at Hampshire Constabulary’s strategic headquarters in Eastleigh, ruled that Mr Apter had made the comment about Mrs Harper during a staff “huddle” during preparations for the awards ceremony during the annual Roads Policing Conference in January 2020.

Legally Qualified Chair Giles Pengelly said: “We find the comment made about Lissie Harper proved and is proved to the level of gross misconduct.”

The panel cleared Mr Apter of a second allegation that he said in early 2019 to a pregnant Police Federation colleague: “Maybe you’ll get a bum now.”

And the panel also cleared the 55-year-old, who served as an officer for 30 years, of an allegation that he had touched the bottom of a woman, referred to as Female A, at a restaurant while visiting London for the National Police Bravery Awards in December 2021 before asking her: “Is that okay?”

Mr Apter had denied the three allegations, which followed an investigation ordered by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), and had told the tribunal that he “absolutely” had not made the comments.

He said he had only “scratched” the woman’s upper back, and added that he found the claims “deeply hurtful”.

Mr Apter, who started his career in policing in 1992, had spoken out against the use of sexist nicknames as part of a canteen culture in the police in 2021, after the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer.

He wrote in the Sunday Times: “Misogyny is not just a problem for women, it’s a problem for us all. Far too often there is silence when this takes place, and through this inaction, we are failing each other and wider society.

“We need to consign to the history books some of our canteen culture where sexist nicknames and derogatory remarks are made. When banter crosses the line to become sexist, derogatory or homophobic, that’s when it ceases to be banter.”

He told the hearing that he had “challenged” inappropriate behaviour by police officers and stood by his public comments about misogyny.

The hearing was adjourned for the panel to consider its sanction against Mr Apter.