Nottinghamshire detective who asked colleague to alter witness statement dismissed
Hearing told DS Rafiq instructed graduate investigator to 'fill it in'
A former detective sergeant has been dismissed after asking a junior colleague to add comments to a witness statement and not tell anyone during a murder investigation.
DS Imran Rafiq attended a week-long Gross Misconduct Hearing at Nottinghamshire Police’s Headquarters at Sherwood Lodge this week.
The hearing heard that in November 2021, DS Rafiq was part of a team working on the murder investigation of Pauline Quinn.
The 73-year-old from Worksop was killed by her 62-year-old neighbour, Lawrence Bierton, who was later sentenced to a whole-life order at Nottingham Crown Court.
While investigating the case, DS Rafiq visited a witness with a graduate investigator but delegated the task of taking a statement to his colleague, despite her lack of experience in this field.
When the statement was submitted to the investigation team, it was highlighted that one of the sentences was incomplete and there was clearly some text missing.
The hearing heard that DS Rafiq at that point told the graduate investigator to “fill it in" with the words she thought the witness had said and “not to tell anyone.”
It was then resubmitted to the investigation team, with DS Rafiq explaining the error by reportedly insisting “we pressed undo by accident and found the bit we lost.”
DS Rafiq later claimed the instruction to secretly fill in the gaps in the statement from memory was a joke that "had gone terribly wrong", and that he'd been trying to involve his junior colleague in "some banter".
He also claimed he intended for someone to go back soon afterwards and get a further statement from the witness, although this didn't happen.
DS Rafiq was also accused at the hearing of "cutting corners" by encouraging his colleague to "manipulate" the statement.
Emails containing both the incomplete and altered witness statements were also found to have been deleted around three weeks after the incident.
The graduate investigator, who rejected the idea it was a joke at the misconduct hearing, was so concerned at the time by what she had been asked to do that she informed the senior investigation team.
The witness statement was therefore never submitted as evidence, as the witness declined to provide a second statement when approached again in December 2022.
The hearing also heard that the graduate investigator had concerns about the language used by DS Rafiq in connection with a separate investigation into the death of another woman.
It is alleged that, while discussing the murder case, he warned his colleague "let this be a life lesson to you, don’t go sleeping around", which she found to be inappropriate and misogynistic.
DS Rafiq denied having any recollection of saying these words, and claimed, if he had said anything along those lines, she may have "got the wrong end of the stick".
Nottinghamshire Police’s Professional Standards Directorate carried out a thorough investigation into both matters.
The hearing heard that DS Rafiq was an officer with nearly 20 years of service with Nottinghamshire Police at the time of the incident and had no other disciplinary findings in his career.
During interview, he said he did not recall saying the comments presented to him and that he intended for someone to go back and get a further statement from the witness.
A gross misconduct hearing was held where it was alleged he was in breach of the following standards of professional behaviour – 'honesty and integrity', 'authority, respect and courtesy', and 'discreditable conduct'.
The hearing was chaired by a legally qualified independent chair at Sherwood Lodge Force HQ.
The three-person panel found DS Rafiq had committed each of the standards breaches he'd been accused of, and that his actions amounted to gross misconduct.
He was dismissed without notice.
Nottinghamshire Police Chief Constable Kate Meynell said: “The people of Nottinghamshire are entitled to expect far better conduct from their police officers than that demonstrated by DS Rafiq.
“His decision to encourage a junior colleague to manipulate a witness statement was totally unacceptable.
“In doing what he did as the more senior detective in this case, he put a graduate investigator with less experience in a difficult position.
“Thankfully, they did the right thing and reported this to the senior investigation team straight away, with the altered witness statement never being submitted as evidence.
“This misconduct hearing also heard he used inappropriate and misogynistic language to colleagues while discussing an incident where another woman was murdered, which was abhorrent and not what I'd expect from any officer.
“It is vitally important that the public have complete trust and confidence in policing, and anything that puts that at risk should not be allowed to go unchecked.
“DS Rafiq breached standards of professional behaviour we require all of our officers to maintain at all times, so he has rightfully now been dismissed from the force.”