The former chair of the Police Federation, who is from the Isle of Wight, committed gross misconduct by making a sexual comment about a police widow, a tribunal has heard.

PC John Apter was found to have committed gross misconduct due to comments he'd made about widow Lissie Harper at a roads policing event.

The wife of PC Andrew Harper was attending the event to collect a Posthumous award for her husband who was killed in the line of duty. 

A police misconduct hearing heard that during a discussion with other officers, Apter said he wanted to “comfort” her in his hotel room.

READ MORE: John Apter tells misconduct panel he challenged inappropriate banter

After a two-week misconduct hearing, Apter was found to have committed gross misconduct after the panel returned its decision this afternoon (October 4). 

He was cleared however of making an inappropriate comment about a pregnant colleague and of touching a woman’s bottom during an evening out in London. 

Hampshire Constabulary disciplinary tribunal’s legally qualified chair Giles Pengelly said of John Apter’s conduct: “We find the comment made about Lissie Harper proved and is proved to the level of gross misconduct.”

Mrs Harper’s husband, PC Andrew Harper, who worked for Thames Valley Police, was killed while responding to a bike theft by three teenagers in Berkshire in August 2019, just four weeks after getting married.