SWP officer accepts gross misconduct over lockdown party and crash

Police Constable Tasia Stephens, 24, failed a breathalyser test after crashing her car into a building less than two miles from the family event in the early hours of Sunday April 26 last year.

On Monday (February 22), a misconduct hearing was told the South Wales Police officer was off duty on the Saturday evening when she attended the gathering at her aunt’s home in Conway Road, Treorchy, South Wales.

At the time of the incident, the entire UK was under strict stay-at-home rules, with people in Wales banned from meeting either indoors or outdoors with people they did not live with.

Case presenter Barney Branston told the hearing in Pencoed, Bridgend, that PC Stephens attended the house party contrary to coronavirus restrictions despite her having an “expectation to enforce the law and take action against members of the public who break them”.

Mr Branston also said PC Stephens “took the extraordinary decision to drive after she knew she’d been drinking” and gave “no thought to other road users”.

PC Stephens was said to have started drinking alcohol at the party where members of her family told her of historical sex allegations against a family member.

But despite appearing to be in “good spirits” when she left at midnight, Mr Branston said PC Stephens nevertheless “took a very poor decision to reach for her car keys and go for a drive”.

Mr Branston said PC Stephens drove around 500m down the road form her aunt’s address where her vehicle was recognised by her on-duty police colleagues who stopped her for a short conversation, but they had “no suspicion she was over the legal limit to drive She carried on driving for around 1.6 miles before crashing into a building in the early hours,” he said.

Mr Branston said members of the public who heard the sound of the crash in Gelli Road, Pentre, alerted police who found PC Stephens “extremely upset, saying she wanted to kill herself” and made reference to the crime said to have been committed by a family member.

PC Stephens failed a roadside breath test, and was taken to a police station where she was found to have 90mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood, with the legal limit to drive being 35mg of alcohol.

On July 10 last year she pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol at Merthyr Tydfil Magistrates’ Court where she was given a conditional discharge for 12 months and banned from driving for 15 months.

Saying PC Stephens had brought or would likely bring discredit to her force, Mr Branston said: “She has expectation to enforce the law and take action against members of the public who break them. She chose to ignore the restrictions and undermined public confidence.”

PC Stephens told the hearing she accepted attending the house party, driving when unfit, and being convicted in court.

She also accepted each of the allegations amounts to discreditable conduct, and that taken together amounts to gross misconduct.

The case continues.