The ECHO covers police misconduct hearings every year to ensure the police are held to the same standards they enforce
Merseyside Police HQ(Image: Andrew Teebay/Liverpool Echo)
Every week the ECHO covers dozens of cases in the city’s criminal courts that have only got to that point due to the dedication of the region’s police officers. But while investigations that have put murderers, drug dealers, violent sex offenders and arsonists behind bars deserve to be praised, the ECHO also believes it’s important for open justice that Merseyside Police’s serving officers are held to the same standards that they enforce.
Throughout the year the ECHO covers a number of misconduct hearings where officers have appeared before a senior officer such as the chief constable to face allegations that they have breached the standards of professional behaviour to the level of gross misconduct.
Police officers hold a position of trust in our society and when officers break that trust, it can cause reputational damage to the force as well as significantly dent public confidence. And as the former chief constable, Serena Kennedy, said during a misconduct hearing, “The communities of Merseyside should quite rightly be able to have trust and confidence that the officers and staff working for Merseyside Police not only uphold the law but also abide by the law.”
Last year, the number of officers barred from the force reached a five-year high. According to the College of Policing, 27 officers were sacked and barred from serving by Merseyside Police in the year up to March 2025. More than 730 were barred across the country in the same period.
Detective Chief Superintendent Cheryl Rhodes, head of Merseyside Police’s professional standards, previously said: “We always demand the highest possible standards from all our officers and staff, both on and off duty. We work proactively to root out and investigate those officers and staff whose behaviour falls short of the very high standards the public of Merseyside expect and deserve.”
The ECHO has covered a number of police misconduct cases between January and December 2025. Here are 14 officers who let down the community they were supposed to serve.
Craig Baker
A former police sergeant “failed to show any respect or courtesy for women in general” after sending a series of lewd messages in which he described a female officer as “mad in the head, good in bed”. Craig Baker sent and received a slew of inappropriate messages while serving as a Merseyside Police officer between 2018 and 2022.
Baker previously appeared before a police misconduct hearing in August 2022 where he was sanctioned due to inappropriate comments he made about a fellow officer’s ethnicity. He appeared yet again in 2024 after making a “worst possible racist joke” to a mixed-race colleague before warning him: “Don’t be putting me in your notebook for racism”.
He was subject to yet another misconduct hearing on August 29, 2025, in which the panel found he had breached the standards of professional behaviour on the grounds of discreditable conduct and authority, respect and courtesy.
They said the former officer’s actions amounted to gross misconduct, and he “would have been dismissed if he were still in post”. Baker resigned on June 30, 2025 and had “almost, if not entirely, disengaged with the disciplinary process”. Five of the 11 breaches put before the disgraced former sergeant were related to failing to “show any respect or courtesy for women in general”.
The ECHO later revealed Baker had been hired to a leadership role with Liverpool Council. But just weeks later the ECHO confirmed the shamed officer was no longer employed by the local authority.
Christopher Beedle
A police officer lied twice in court which led to a defendant being acquitted. Former Merseyside Police Constable Christopher Beedle stepped down from his role after he was found to have been involved in the arrest of a member of the public on July 23, 2023.
But when he gave his statement, he lied about the circumstances surrounding the arrest. He later gave the same untrue statement as evidence given in court, and again while under cross examination.
In a misconduct hearing outcome published on the Merseyside Police website in November and written by Chief Constable Rob Carden it was found only when it was stated to him that he had been untruthful that he then admitted to lying under oath.
The lies resulted in the defendant being acquitted. The chief constable concluded: “It is clear from the evidence that the officer was wholly culpable for his acts. He has admitted the same. The harm caused is high. This is undoubtedly the case. Officers are to uphold the law and to provide truthful statements and give truthful evidence; when they do not it brings policing as a whole into disrepute.
“The aggravating factor is that the officer’s actions were deliberate, and he took no step whatsoever to correct the situation. And whilst I understand the officer’s fear for his personal safety, this is no mitigation here.”
Lewis McVey
A detective told police officers “it won’t affect me driving” after turning up to work with huge amounts of cocaine still in his system. Now former Detective Constable Lewis McVey was asked to complete a drugs test after senior officers suspected he had been using controlled drugs, namely cocaine.
But before he was forced to take the test McVey told an officer: “I’ll save you the time, it’s gonna come back positive”. The drug sample, which was tested from his urine, detected a 1,000 ng/mL benzoylecgonine concentration, which indicates recent cocaine use.
McVey resigned from Merseyside Police before he could be sacked by the force. Rob Carden, the recently appointed chief constable, said: “That in my view was the right thing for him to do as it is clear from the evidence that the former officer was wholly culpable for his acts.”
Chief Constable Carden said if McVey had still been serving he would have been sacked. He has now been placed on the College of Policing’s barred list, meaning he can never work in the police again unless he successfully appeals the decision.
The officer was at work shortly after 8.30am on July 31, 2025 when he was told he needed to take the test. After telling a colleague that it would come back positive, he supplied a sample of urine which underwent screen testing. Shortly after the screen test indicated a non-negative result.
McVey had driven to work that morning and a further drug wipe test was requested from the roads policing unit. At 8.59am on the same day the shamed officer told a colleague “it won’t affect me driving”. When pressed on what he meant, McVey said “cocaine”.
McVey faced a series of misconduct allegations at a hearing held at the force’s HQ in November.
Chief Constable Carden said: “I have considered those standards and this incontrovertible and admitted conduct clearly breaches those standards. The former officer admits taking cocaine, the toxicology report demonstrates that at the time of the test he had over 1000ng/ml benzoylecgonine in his system.
Ross Meredith
A Merseyside Police inspector called Just Stop Oil protesters “nothing more than dog dirt in the grooves of a shoe” on his personal Twitter/X account. Inspector Ross Meredith, who served in the police force for nearly three decades, posted derogatory and ableist comments that were found to amount to gross misconduct following a hearing in January.
Details from the hearing revealed that the force received information expressing concern about the former officer’s X account on April 2 2024. He was told to remove the posts, but two months later further information revealed there were still three “unacceptable” pieces of material on his account.
The hearing heard that on July 7 2023 he posted on his X account in response to a comment from Just Stop Oil’s official account: “Each pathetic protest results in fewer people supporting their cause. This evil cult are so dim they simply don’t realise the futility of their tantrums. The government doesn’t care about orange JSO r****** (this ableist word was written in full in the actual post) hurting normal people.”
On May 13 of the same year, he posted another response below a comment from Just Stop Oil concerning arrests by the Metropolitan Police: “You’ve lost the argument. All you ever do is harass & disrupt normal people & hinder the important chapters in their lives. Those in power view you as nothing more than dog dirt in the grooves of a shoe. Stop acting like spoilt special needs kids & stop wearing oil-based tabards.”
And on July 2 2022, he posted in response to a TalkTV comment about a Just Stop Oil protester who had glued themselves to a painting. He wrote: “Other than suffering from a mental health condition, there is no other rational explanation.”
Former Inspector Meredith held a number of positions while at Merseyside Police. After rising through the ranks in a previously unblemished career, he acted as a community inspector across Wirral and as a bronze team responder responsible for operational decisions during high profile incidents. The ECHO understands the former officer was also part of Merseyside Police’s LGBTQ+ Network, whose work includes “promoting inclusion” in the community.
Following the accelerated misconduct hearing, the former officer was axed from the force without notice and will be barred from becoming an officer again after he was added to the College of Policing’s barred list for a minimum of five years.
James Dang
An award-winning police officer was found to have used unreasonable force on a member of the public during an arrest. James Dang was a serving police constable for Merseyside Police when the incident occurred on October 30 last year, a misconduct panel heard.
It was found Dang breached the standards of professional behaviour when he was involved in the arrest of a member of the public. During the arrest, which was captured on body worn camera and CCTV, Dang was assaulted by the man who was then restrained.
Dang used CS incapacitant spray, also known as PAVA spray, which irritates the eyes and can cause sneezing, coughing and chest tightness. He also applied a pressure point for 20 seconds. The force used was found to be unnecessary.
On August 6 last year, Dang appeared at Chester Magistrates’ Court, the Daily Mail reports, where it was heard how the incident had occurred at 2.25am after the victim had become abusive towards a taxi driver in Liverpool city centre. PC Dang and his colleague caught up with the man involved. Dang was convicted of assault by beating and fined £880. He was also ordered to £400 in costs and a £362 victim surcharge.
In a report following a misconduct hearing, it was said the man was “not in a position where he was a threat” to the PC or his colleague. It continued: “You had full control of him on the floor and he was also placed in handcuffs. The use of the CS Incapacitant was wholly unnecessary.”
Dang had been a police officer for seven years and had won Response Officer of the Year 2023 when the assault unfolded, with the report stating his conduct was “so serious that it has no place in policing”. Dang’s actions were deemed as gross misconduct and would have been dismissed without notice had he still been with the force. He has been added to the College of Policing barred list.
Andrew Ditchfield, James Taafe and Callum Smith
Police officers who formed a “boys club” sprayed each other with nitrous oxide, watched porn and claimed abuse to female colleagues was “character building”. Merseyside Police sergeant Andrew Ditchfield and constables James Taafe and Callum Smith created a “toxic culture” in their squad by passing off bullying as “banter”.
Over the space of three months between August 2022 and November 2022, Taafe and Smith repeatedly made “derogatory comments about women” which would be laughed off by their superior as if he was “one of the boys”. Such was the weight of evidence against them that the men faced a series of allegations that amounted to gross misconduct following the culmination of a near-two week hearing earlier this year.
The three men faced allegations arising from four separate matters with a number of officers providing evidence against them. The hearing heard that the team dynamics shifted following the arrival of PC Taafe, who joined the team in November 2022. The misconduct hearing was told female officers “developed a perception of the existence of a ‘boys club’.”
One officer said “numerous inappropriate comments were made by officers on my team…they were malicious in nature and caused me to feel shocked”. She added: “A lot of the time on the team, most of the comments were the result of ‘banter’ being taken too far…This behaviour was constant and daily…it was a toxic work environment”.
On one occasion Taafe got a takeaway and said: “I’ve got a load of chicken legs and elephant legs as well” before he looked at a female officer and said “oh actually they are just (redacted name)”. On other occasions he said to the same officer “are you growing your moustache for Movember or is it natural?” and repeatedly called her “fat and ugly”.
The hearing was also told of an incident on November 12, 2022 when the three men were deployed along with several colleagues to Liverpool city centre in a police carrier. The team sighted a number of men inhaling nitrous oxide and after seizing the canisters engaged in a series of improper conduct.
CCTV footage showed Ditchfield spray a canister out of the window of the carrier before he pointed it at Taafe, who was driving. The pair then held the canister in the direction of the officers sitting behind them, who “took evasive action to avoid inhaling the gas”. When the police carrier was parked in the Wirral custody suite car park, Taafe took possession of the gas canister and sprayed it into the vehicle again towards three officers.
Ditchfield and Smith were said to find the footage hilarious.
The hearing was also told how Smith was said to have viewed a pornographic video on his phone while in the presence of three other officers. He was said to have then discussed the video in graphic detail, which featured the mum of a young male the team often stop and searched.
Smith was said to have turned the sound up and encouraged the officers to view the footage. One officer said she was outraged by his conduct but did not feel able to challenge him because of the prevailing “boys club”.
By the time of the hearing Ditchfield and Smith had already resigned from Merseyside Police. The panel noted they would have been immediately dismissed from the force. Taafe, who contested the evidence against him, was dismissed. All of the men were also added to the College of Policing barred list.
Amy Roberts
A police sergeant was found to have had sex for an hour while she was working after texting a man “I may or may not have f****d in work”. Amy Roberts requested to work from home on January 30, 2024 during her shift which was scheduled as 7am to 4pm after claiming to have felt ill.
During a Merseyside Police misconduct hearing in January this year, it was heard how between 9.14am and 4.35pm, Roberts engaged in communications with a man, consisting of 287 messages including WhatsApp messages, voice notes and photo messages. The time spent on these messages was found to be four hours and 24 minutes.
At around 12.23pm, the man Roberts had been messaging arrived at her home where he stayed until at around 1.32pm, during which time the pair had engaged in “sexual intercourse”, according to a report published by the force. The messages were personal and sexual in nature and included images of Sgt Roberts in her underwear and pornography of others.
The report, following the misconduct hearing on January 20, continued to say how one of the messages sent by the now former police sergeant said: “I may or may not have f****d in work.” Roberts did not accept the total amount of time sending and receiving WhatsApp messages and claimed that the sex lasted “no more than 30 minutes”. The report continued to state how she claims to have “utilised her 50 minute break to have sexual intercourse”..
The report concluded: “Having decided that disciplinary action should follow its findings of gross misconduct, in line with paragraph 20.66 of the Home Office Guidance, the panel determined that had the former officer still been a serving officer with Merseyside Police, she would have been dismissed.”
Phillip McElroy
A former constable was found to have sent and received messages that used homophobic, transphobic and racist language while working for Merseyside Police. Phillip McElroy was found to have engaged in several conversations over WhatsApp in a two-year period where he would regularly use homophobic language, as well as react to transphobic, homophobic and racist messages with laughing emojis.
McElroy was hauled in before an accelerated misconduct hearing where he was found to have breached the standards of professional behaviour for the force. In a written report published on October 6 this year following the hearing held on July 17, 2024, it said how the then-constable engaged in these conversations between November 10, 2021, and January 6, 2024.
The report said: “These messages have been sent to and received from multiple participants. You have used this media platform to send and receive, messages, images, and video files, of either a racist, homophobic, misogynistic or transphobic nature. Samples of the messages exchanged are provided below.”
During the hearing, no representations were made on behalf of the former officer. McElroy resigned from the force before he could be axed without notice.
Steven Ainsworth
A firearms officer was struck off for what he did with a female colleague while he was meant to be working. Sergeant Steven Ainsworth, a married firearms sergeant for Merseyside Police, was found to have spent upwards of 64 hours when he was meant to be working with a fellow police officer who he was having a relationship with.
Ainsworth and his colleague, Officer A who has been granted anonymity, were found to have visited each others’ homes while they were meant to be working as they had a secret relationship.
It was heard during the four day hearing how Ainsworth had visited Officer A’s home address 14 separate times while he was on shift, with an audit revealing that he had not conducted work during these visits.
The panel, chaired by Assistant Chief Constable Alex Goss, heard how during one the visits from Officer A to Sgt Ainsworth’s home, she had gone to tell him how her ex-partner planned on telling the sergeant’s wife about their relationship.
It was concluded the reason for the visits was to “develop their personal relationship and offer mutual support to each other given their prevailing personal challenges”, and was not for sexual purposes.
During one particular visit, Ainsworth attended Officer A’s home address while at least eight of his colleagues were attending a police incident, with him failing to provide any visible support to those in attendance.
The panel deemed Officer A’s actions as misconduct and found that her culpability was low. She was handed a written warning.
Ainsworth was found to have committed gross misconduct, with the culpability of his actions high due to it being “planned, intentional and deliberate”. The harm caused by the officer was also deemed as high.
The report said: “Turning to personal mitigation, the Panel noted that PS Ainsworth was suffering various personal stressors at the material time. Further, the Panel had regard to the bundle of character evidence provided on behalf of the PS Ainsworth which the Panel considered to be exceptional.”
Ainsworth was dismissed without notice and added to the College of Policing barred list.
Matthew Dowling
A Merseyside police officer who engaged in racist and ableist conversations and bought sex workers’ photos said “he would be f***ed” if his phone was seized. Former police constable Matthew Dowling resigned from the force before he could be fired at an accelerated misconduct hearing after a litany of vile and disgusting material was found in a WhatsApp group.
Over the space of 18 months Dowling was involved in discriminatory conversations about marginalised people and even mocked victims he was dealing with while on duty. Dowling was also found to engage in conversations with sex workers and buy illicit content from them.
His misconduct related to the contents of his mobile phone which was seized and downloaded on August 18 2023 after he was arrested for unrelated matters. Officers investigating Dowling’s conduct found he received messages where derogatory slurs were used to describe a person of Pakistani heritage and a Black person. Both times Dowling did not challenge the person about their choice of language.
Messages also showed Dowling instigating a conversation with his friends making fun of the arrest of a transgender person, while on a separate occasion he mocked a victim experiencing a mental health crisis. Other messages showed he had engaged in communication with two women, referred to as Ms X and Ms Y during the misconduct hearing, who were identified as sex workers.
A report published following the hearing detailed how Dowling made payments to the two women for images “for the purpose of sexual gratification”. The former PC resigned from the force ahead of the misconduct hearing. Then Chief Constable Kennedy said he would have been immediately dismissed without notice. He has also been placed on the College of Policing’s barred list.
Ben McGuinness
A former constable would have been sacked for what he did on Instagram had he not already left the force. Ben McGuinness was a serving Merseyside Police constable when he operated Glo Up Competitions, despite his business interest application being declined.
On August 22, 2024, McGuinness told his line manager he intended to repurpose Glo Up Travel into a raffle company and rename it as Glo Up Competitions. He submitted the business interest application to his manager in relation to Glo Up Competitions, Glo up Beauty and Glo Up Events.
On September 23 that year, McGuinness was told his application in respect of Glo Up Beauty and Glo Up Events had been approved with conditions but his application for Glo Up Competitions had been declined. McGuinness had continued to run the competitions business despite the rejection, posting on Instagram regularly despite not having approval.
The Chief Constable continued: “I have considered whether a final written warning would have been appropriate if still serving, but for all the reasons outlined above, as well as that the communities of Merseyside should quite rightly be able to have trust and confidence that the officers and staff working for Merseyside Police uphold the law and abide by it, I do not think that is appropriate.
“My sanction in this case is immediate dismissal without notice should the officer still have been serving. The officer will also be placed on the College of Policing barred list.”
Unnamed special constable
A Merseyside Police special constable was sacked after telling fellow officers he was “gonna George Floyd me a nonce”. The male officer, whose identity has been kept anonymous by Merseyside Police, told a WhatsApp group chat that he “couldn’t wait to arrest a nonce”.
The messages were sent in the middle of a discussion about an upcoming Online Child Abuse Investigation Team (OCAIT) event. The anonymous officer wrote: “Looks boss, plain clothes, catching pedos. Gonna George Floyd me a nonce, that’s a joke PSD”.
The comment referred to the 2020 murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black American man who died after white police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes during an arrest, while Mr Floyd was handcuffed and lying face-down in the street. The killing sparked international protests against police brutality and racism, and Chauvin was later found guilty of murder and sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison.
Regarding his anonymity, Chief Constable Rob Carden said: “The officer has served some evidence about the impact of these proceedings and in light of that evidence the officer shall retain anonymity.”