Former Warwick based police officer breached standards after 'fabricating a story' after crash

An investigation into a former police officer in the south of the county has found that he breached standards of professional behaviour for honesty and integrity.

Henry Hopper, who at the time of the complaint was a response officer in Warwick but has since resigned, was found in breach of the standards after an incident on July 21, 2021.

The hearing found he deliberately ignored evidence to fabricate a story about how a collision happened, and falsely attributed and recorded a statement regarding the driver’s initial comments.

Later, after a complaint was raised, Hopper falsely asserted that he had made enquiries to trace the driver and the vehicle that failed to stop.

After a complaint was made about his handling of the case, Hopper resigned and the Warwickshire Police Professional Standards team opened an investigation.

The hearing, which was chaired by Chief Constable Debbie Tedds, took place on Friday July 28. The hearing found that had former PC Hopper not previously resigned he would have been dismissed. He will also be placed on the College of Policing barred list.

This outcome is subject to an appeals process.

Detective Superintendent Jill Fowler said “It’s a serious dereliction of duty for an officer to fail to accurately record and report details of a crime.

“To then proceed to fabricate details, negating the need to do any further investigative work, shows a lack of integrity which falls far below the high standards we expect of our officers and staff.”