PC lied about crash visit and went to McDonald's

A police officer lied about knocking on the door of a man who reported a car crash in his street, then headed to McDonald's restaurant, a misconduct panel has heard.

Former Leicestershire Police officer Emma Elliott was the subject of a misconduct hearing on Tuesday after Ring doorbell footage showed she did not knock on the door of a man who had phoned police on 17 October 2025.

In mitigation, the panel heard that Elliott was aged 18 at the time and had earned independent patrol status just months before in June. She was still on probation at the time.

The panel concluded that her actions amounted to gross misconduct and said she would have been sacked if she had not already resigned.

The panel heard how the man had called police after a vehicle crashed into his neighbour's property before reversing into his own car and driving off.

The incident was graded a priority response and officers arrived on scene at 23:14 BST.

Despite reviewing the call log five times on the journey to the house and again just before midnight, Elliott failed to knock on his door, the panel heard.

The doorbell footage showed she walked around the scene and passed the property multiple times.

The panel was told she then updated the police software STORM indicating she had unsuccessfully tried to make contact and when challenged, said the man did not answer his door.

She then missed an opportunity to return to the scene as she was at McDonald's, the panel heard.

The hearing heard she failed to "remedy the situation" again when questioned by her sergeant the following day, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

In her defence, Elliott said she was probably "half asleep" during her 17:00 to 03:00 shift and was also experiencing personal pressures – including multiple bereavements and health concerns.

Amanda Thwaites, from Leicestershire Police Federation, told the hearing that the former officer was perhaps not "best placed" to carry out operational duties, and revealed that she had resigned this year after accepting that a police career was "not right for her".

The defence argued that Elliott subsequently showed "genuine remorse" for her actions, accepting that the information she had provided was inaccurate but contesting the fact it was "deliberately false or misleading".

However, panel chair, Deputy Chief Constable Julia Debenham, said Elliott was in breach of three policing principles, honesty and integrity, duties and responsibilities, and discreditable conduct.

Elliott was subsequently placed on the barred list.

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