Police officer couple 'argued over cocaine found in home they shared with baby'
A police officer couple rowed over finding "bags of cocaine" in the house they shared with their baby, a misconduct panel has heard today.
One of the officers, former Merseyside constable Jonathan Brown, resigned after being arrested in possession of the Class A drug, but would have faced the sack had he remained on the force. His then partner, PC Chloe Fitton, was due to have her case heard in front of an independent misconduct panel today.
However, PC Fitton did not show up at the force HQ for the hearing, and it proceeded in her absence. The panel was told PC Fitton is accused of turning a "blind eye" to her then partner, PC Brown, using cocaine so regularly that she once found a bag of the drug "stuck to her foot" in the living room.
She is also accused of using the drug herself on at least two occasions, and "misleading" social services on what she knew about her partner's cocaine use. George Thomas, representing Merseyside Police, told the independent panel that ignoring regular Class A drug use by a colleague presented a "major problem" for the force. He said: "Where is he getting the drugs from? Who is he associating with when he gets his hands on them? Where are they getting the drugs from?"
"It's a major problem for Merseyside Police if it has officers who are regularly obtaining and taking Class A drugs. There are corruption issues that immediately come to mind and there are integrity issues there. PC Fitton must have realised that was not a situation Merseyside Police should be unaware of. They needed to know about PC Brown."
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PC Brown was arrested outside a pub in Wigan
PC Fitton, who is accused of gross misconduct (Facebook)The panel, chaired by independent solicitor David Tyme, heard an array of WhatsApp messages between the couple, reports the Liverpool Echo. Those messages revealed PC Fitton moaning at her boyfriend for "getting wired" and being "out until 4am sniffing", and even going out and taking cocaine "two or three times" while off on paternity leave. Mr Thomas told the panel in November 2021, PC Brown had sent anguished messages to his partner after undergoing a drug test at work, saying he was scared "he is going to lose everything" but hoping the drug had cleared his system.
PC Fitton responded: "All we can do baby is hope hope hope your (sic) drank enough water etc to flush it out x". Mr Thomas said that test in fact came back negative, but rather than learn his lesson PC Brown appeared to continue with his regular drug use, which became a regular source of tension according to Professional Standards detectives. In May last year, PC Fitton messaged PC Brown saying: "I don't want a boyfriend who sniffs beak and gets p****** every weekend".
A few days later, she said: "Why have I been sat on the sofa and got a bag with stuff in stuck to my f****** foot...Are you doing it that much you lose track of where it is?" In another "matter of fact" message a few days later she said: "I need to clean before I bring the baby down I'm paranoid about there being Coke on stuff [they] touch".
However, the messages, downloaded from PC Brown's phone by detectives from the force's Professional Standards Department (PSD), also revealed how PC Fitton herself allegedly indulged in cocaine use. In messages sent between the two on June 17, 2022, while PC Fitton was on a night out in Ormskirk, Brown asks: "Ok Babe are you on it? Beak [slang for cocaine] I mean xxx."
PC Fitton replied: "I've had a small one and it made me feel sick so I've said no more xxx." The officer told her boyfriend she had been given the "beak" by a friend, adding: "I'm a bit worried about her she said she does it all the time and she looks so thin xxx." In another exchange, on June 10, PC Fitton and PC Brown discussed her feeling "rough". PC Brown said: "I'm so sorry I let last night happen I'm embarrassed and p***** off at myself for doing that when [their baby] was there."
PC Fitton replied: "I'm just so ashamed we it happened when [the baby] was there xxx". PC Brown was arrested outside a pub in Wigan on August 8 last year, after he had bought cocaine. He later pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine at Manchester Magistrates' Court and was fined.
His arrest led to a referral to social services, over concerns about the couple's child potentially being present while a parent was under the influence of drugs. One social worker, who cannot be named but gave evidence at the hearing, called PC Fitton to have an initial "screening" conversation.
In a contemporaneous note she made of the call, she recorded that PC Fitton said she had "had zero tolerance" for drugs as a police officer and was "shocked" to learn that her boyfriend had been arrested. Mr Thomas added: "It is absolutely plain, whether by frank dishonesty or obvious lack of integrity, the officer has left social services with a completely misleading view of what the domestic picture was up to that point."
The panel heard that PC Fitton answered "no comment" to all questions, but gave a prepared statement in which she accepted the messages "gave the appearance" that she had taken drugs but that she "could not recall" whether she had done as she had been drinking. Laura Nash, representing PC Fitton, said she was unable to call evidence on behalf of the officer as her client had declined to attend. However, she submitted written submissions, which said: "The officer was a new mother and was 'constantly firefighting' with Brown and his behaviour, including trying to support him in his recovery."
PC Fitton is accused of breaching professional standards around challenging and reporting improper conduct, honesty and integrity and discreditable conduct. The panel heard she accepts she did not report PC Brown's drug use, but argues that her failure to do so amounted to misconduct short of gross misconduct. The panel adjourned until tomorrow afternoon to reach a finding on what facts are found proven and what level of misconduct PC Fitton is guilty of.
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