Police leader 'upset' by sex remark and touch claims

A former police leader has told a gross misconduct hearing the charges of indecent touching and sexual remarks against him are "deeply upsetting".

John Apter, 55, has denied telling colleagues he would like to comfort Lissie Harper, the widow of PC Andrew Harper, in his hotel room.

Showing emotion at the tribunal hearing, he said he did not made any "sexually inappropriate" remark in 2020, when he was chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales.

Mr Apter also denies touching a police officer's bottom at a social event in 2021 and commenting on a female colleague's figure two years previously.

He said the "offensive" allegation about Ms Harper had ended the close professional relationship between them, as they campaigned together for greater protection for emergency workers.

PC Harper, from Wallingford in Oxfordshire, was killed while responding to a bike theft in Berkshire in 2019. Three teenagers were jailed for his manslaughter in 2020.

Giving evidence at Hampshire police headquarters in Eastleigh, Mr Apter paused with emotion when he was asked by his barrister about the constable's widow.

He said: "I certainly didn't say anything in a sexually inappropriate way and certainly not about a hotel room. Absolutely not.

"All of this is deeply upsetting, but with Lissie Harper, what she's been through, it's just so deeply offensive.

"And the impact of such an allegation, not on me but on Lissie and her family, must be horrific."

Mr Apter's disciplinary tribunal previously heard an allegation that he touched a police officer's bottom in a restaurant and whispered: "Is that OK?".

However, he told the hearing he had only scratched her back.

The former Hampshire policeman said: "The only physical contact [was when] I got the impression that she made a move like her back was itching.

"I said: 'Are you OK?' It was scratching her back sort of thing, mid-back.

"It sounds terrible, but if you're inclined to be inappropriate physically you couldn't because she was sitting down anyway."

He denied inviting her to sit on his lap, saying she was "fit" or rubbing her bottom on another occasion.

The hearing was shown CCTV footage of Mr Apter repeatedly leaning in to talk to the woman, who was in front of him and looking away.

Later footage showed her changing seats at the restaurant table, taking her away from the accused officer.

He told the hearing: "At not point... was I ever under the impression that I had ever made anyone feel uncomfortable.

"I wasn't paralytically drunk, I knew what I was doing."

Mr Apter was asked by barrister Cecily White whether he was attracted to the woman.

He replied: "No more than any other lady in the group. It wasn't something that I consciously thought of."

The former chairman also denied a third allegation that he had commented on a pregnant colleague's figure, telling her: "Maybe you'll get a bum now."

He told the tribunal: "It would have been deeply offensive... It wouldn't have been in my vocabulary."

The woman previously told the hearing that she was not bothered by the remark, which she said was made by another Police Federation official and not Mr Apter.

A criminal inquiry into the claims was previously dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Mr Apter, who had a 30-year police career, chaired Hampshire Police Federation from 2010 and the national federation from 2018.

You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.