Police officer who was nominated for bravery award facing sack after Rushden assault conviction

A Northamptonshire Police officer convicted of assaulting a bouncer outside a Rushden pub could be sacked.

PC Karen Canwell, who was once nominated for a national bravery award, was found guilty of one count of common assault in November.

It is alleged that she was drunk and off duty at the King Edward VII in Queen Street with friends on Saturday, December 11, 2021 when the incident happened. Northamptonshire Police said that at or around closing time, a bouncer asked her and her friends to finish their drinks and leave but they “persistently failed to do so”.

It’s alleged that the bouncer then used “reasonable force” to get the officer out of the premises but she resisted and hit him on the back of his head.

Northamptonshire Police said that, once she had left, the pub was closed and she kicked the doors, before pushing the bouncer in the chest and punching him in the face.

She denied the assault charge before being convicted on Wednesday, November 16, at Loughborough Magistrates’ Court.

She was ordered to pay a £1,609 fine. A misconduct hearing chaired by Northamptonshire Police’s temporary chief constable Paul Gibson will hear the case on Wednesday from midday.