“I’m going to try and get rid of this as a breach of the peace”: "Dishonest" Bedfordshire PC sacked for failing to properly investigate assault

PC Iain Solomon was booted out of the Bedfordshire force following a hearing at Lysander House, in Tempsford, for gross misconduct.

On June 15 and 16, the four-person panel heard how PC Solomon and a colleague dealt with a dispute on the night of September 21, 2024. It was alleged the suspect had pushed the complainant down the stairs.

The suspect showed the officers the pushing gesture with his hands and said: “I pushed him back because I was feeling threatened.” The officer specifically asked whether he connected with the complainant – and the suspect explicitly confirmed there had been contact.

PC Solomon then told the suspect “technically you’ve committed an assault,” but later said “you’re not getting arrested so don’t worry about that” before adding he was “going to try and get this off as a breach of the peace which means nothing happens.”

And if that wasn’t enough, he later told the suspect’s daughter: “Your dad is brilliant; he’s done absolutely nothing wrong… your neighbours seem like they’ve been drunk, had a little bit too much to drink, and are, how can I put this – idiots. So, your mum and dad are brilliant.”

PC Solomon asked the suspect if any of the incident between the two had been caught on video but was told there was only audio available.

But despite this, when he returned to the complainant’s home, he boldly told him: “I’ve got video footage of what’s actually happened; so, would you like to change your story at all?”

He added “You launched yourself down the stairs” and “there is no assault” before repeating the false claim he had video footage.

But when the complainant insisted he’d been pushed down the stairs, PC Solomon replied “and I know he didn’t.”

And to make matters worse, the report details how the officer even radioed the control room to tell them there were no injuries.

This is despite the fact he hadn’t bothered to investigate the alleged assault – even though he’d been told there were injuries.

During the hearing, the PC did concede he had been told by another officer the complainant had dislocated his shoulder in the fall and had bad injuries to his hand but asked no follow-up questions.

In evidence to the panel, PC Solomon was adamant there were no visible injuries but his argument was weakened by photographs taken by another PC.

The panel also found the complainant to be totally lucid and calm when talking to the officer, noting he remained seated throughout the conversation.

Whereas, they found PC Solomon’s manner and use of words to be confrontational and unprofessional.

In a witness statement, the claimant later said: “I do not feel confident in Bedfordshire Constabulary with any further situation, and I am worried to call again as I felt villainised when I was the victim of this incident.”

In the summary findings, the panel also found:

The officer failed to record a crime in line with reporting standards

And

He failed to carry out an effective investigation including:

He prematurely reaching a view he would deal with it through community engagement before adequately investigating it

He failed to investigate the complainant’s injuries

He failed to take sufficient account of the strengths and weaknesses of the available video evidence

Merely accepted the suspect’s explanation of self-defence

In mitigation, the officer claimed he was trying to de-escalate the incident. He also claimed he honestly believed that there had been no push and that the video footage showed this to be the case

But the panel were unconvinced and said – especially as the PC was the most experienced officer at the scene – that he deliberately misled both the complainant and force control room, leaving them with no option but to sack him for gross misconduct.