Neil Wilby Media

In a class-leading example of police opacity and brevity, a short notice on the website of Greater Manchester Police announces the opening of a Police Appeals Tribunal hearing today (4th March, 2024).

It identifies the officer as PC Rebekah Kelly, although her given name is incorrectly spelt in the notice.

No further details are given as to the location of the hearing, the composition of the Panel or whether, and by whom, the parties are represented. It is scheduled to last two days.

This is GMP’s own report of the outcome of the disciplinary proceedings wherein PC Kelly was dismissed without notice:

Former PC Ashley Feest and PC Graham Atkinson were part of a WhatsApp group called ‘the Dispensables’.

Racist and homophobic posts were shared within the group along with messages relating to drugs use and supply. The group also contained Aaron Jones, who was a then serving officer before his resignation in 2021 after being convicted of offering to supply Class C drugs and thereafter dismissed from GMP in his absence.

PC Rebekah Kelly was not part of the group but was Jones’ girlfriend and failed to report racist and derogatory text messages that he had sent to her.

PCs Atkinson and Feest accepted their behaviour amounted to gross misconduct, while PC Kelly denied the allegations.

PC Kelly was dismissed without notice and will be added to the College of Policing’s Barred List.

The panel, led by an independent Legally Qualified Chair, also ruled Feest, who resigned in March 2021 following a failed drugs test for anabolic steroids, would also have been dismissed had he still been serving and will also be added to the Barred List.

PC Atkinson was given a final written warning.

At the time of the incidents, all three officers worked in GMP’s City of Manchester North division.

Detective Chief Superintendent Mike Allen, head of GMP Professional Standards Branch, said “The conduct of these officers was a complete disgrace and it is fitting that three members of the WhatsApp group now find themselves barred from policing for life, with one also carrying a criminal conviction for offering to supply drugs.

“Whilst messages were sent across personal WhatsApp accounts, given the racist and homophobic content, in addition to other communications revelling in the misuse of drugs, any right to privacy these officers thought they had was ousted by their abhorrent conduct.

“The shameful behaviour of these officers risks undermining the noble work of all in GMP who serve our diverse communities with kindness and this is why I have no hesitation in demonstrating, very publicly, the hard line that will be taken when such repugnant behaviour is detected

“GMP have given a firm commitment to expelling those whose behaviour risks bringing policing into disrepute and members of the ‘the Dispensables’ WhatsApp group may now recognise that our actions very much match our words given their now dispensed status from policing.”

Neil Wilby, the author of this article and many more on police disciplinary and criminal matters, says:

“Firstly, these information vacuums routinely created by almost all police forces around misconduct hearings, not just GMP, do little to sustain confidence in the process. The College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs Council should be at the forefront of change. Regrettably, on all evidence available to me they are the problem, not the solution.

“Secondly, it is my personal, but reasonably well-informed, opinion that PC Kelly was harshly dealt with on the facts set out in the misconduct outcome. As a minor player, and, probably, subsumed by her role as girlfriend of one of the serious perpetrators, it may well be that the Tribunal reverses the decision and either remits the matter back to a re-convened misconduct hearing or substitutes its own decision of, possibly, a final written warning.”

Page last updated: Monday 4th February 2024 at 0925 hours

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