Ex-Northants Police officer pulled sickie to go to wedding - but was caught because his line manager was there

A former Northamptonshire Police officer who called in sick to attend a colleague’s wedding the next day was caught out when his line manager was at the same event.

Ex-PC Marcus Read had agreed to cover a colleague’s shift but called the force’s automated sickness line to tell the force he would not be working.

He attended the wedding on November 19, 2022, but two days later his manager, who had seen and spoke to him there, noted he had not attended work as expected and had not been ill.

A meeting was held on November 21 and Mr Read quit the week after.

Mr Read admitted that he had called in sick to attend the wedding and was told by managers how “angry” and “disappointed” they were with such a blatant disregard for professional standards.

The former officer was invited to but did not attend a misconduct hearing held online on Wednesday.

He had been due to work on the force’s Operation Kayak, which was set up to tackle sexual offending at pubs, clubs and other venues, between 10pm and 6am on the day of the wedding.

The force said the strategy protected hundreds of people after it was launched after Covid-19 restrictions were lifted for premises in summer 2021.

Police Federation representative for Mr Read, Matt Moore, said he had emailed and phoned the former officer in the run-up to the hearing but had received no response.

The panel, which included the police force’s head of crime and justice, Det Ch Supt Paul Rymarz, found Mr Read would have been sacked without notice had he still been an officer.

The panel’s chairman David Tyme said his behaviour was premeditated and the risk of reputational damage to the force had he still been employed would have been high.