A former Surrey police officer, Tina Anscombe, has been prohibited from the profession following a disciplinary tribunal that determined she “maliciously” filed a “false” allegation of child sexual abuse to the NSPCC.
Former Surrey officer, PC Tina Anscombe, was deemed responsible of supplying false and highly misleading information to the NSPCC regarding a family.
Ms. Tina Anscombe has asserted that she sincerely believed her concerns were legitimate and has refuted any allegations of misconduct. The police misconduct hearing panel, convened on November 5 and 6, determined that Ms. Anscombe violated professional conduct standards by acting dishonestly with the intent to hurt a mother and her family.
The panel determined that Ms. Tina Anscombe’s false claim could have had a potentially “devastating impact” on the individual and their family, thereby undermining public confidence and faith in the police.
Ms Tina Anscombe was found to have made a referral to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) about child sexual abuse “in bad faith” on April 30, 2020.
Representing Surrey Police, Robert Talalay claimed that former PC Anscombe had “abused her powers” as a police officer to potentially act as “revenge”.
The panel heard Ms Tina Anscombe had stated in the referral form that Mrs XY was aware of the potential abuse and was not addressing her responsibilities as a mother. Mr Talalay told the panel the former PC had given the impression she was close to the family, suggesting she had seen them ‘one month ago’, when she had never laid eyes on the family. She also indicated she witnessed behaviour she had referred to on the form.
Children’s Services visited the family in direct response to the NSPCC report and found the allegations were “baseless and unsound”, according to Surrey Police’s legal representative.
Speaking on behalf of Ms Tina Anscombe, Tom Arthur said at the misconduct meeting, that the former PC felt “duty bound” to share the information about alleged child abuse. He said her only concern was to safeguard the children.
The former officer, who did not attend the hearing, appealed to the panel to consider her state of mind and the “shame” she felt at work as her colleagues knew her then-husband, a Detective Constable with the force, was going through misconduct proceedings. He was sacked in December 2020, following allegations of a sexual relationship with someone he met during the course of his duties. Ms Anscombe resigned from Surrey Police after 21 years of service in October 2021.
At the hearing this week, Ms Tina Anscombe was found to have breached her responsibilities in failing to identify herself as a police officer to the NSPCC or raising her safeguarding concerns with a sergeant within Surrey Police.
Mr Talalay argued Ms Anscombe had submitted “false and misleading information” to the NSPCC as she did not identify herself as a ‘professional’ but as ‘other relative’ without explaining further detail in the form.
The misconduct panel heard the ex-officer did not go through the usual channels to report potential child abuse, which she could have done through her sergeant at work. Ms Anscombe said she feared if she reported her concerns to the sergeant, her actions would be labelled as malicious. Instead, she chose to anonymously refer the family via the NSPCC.
The misconduct panel found that Ms Tina Anscombe’s behaviour had amounted to gross misconduct and, if she was still a serving officer, she would have been dismissed without notice. Ms Anscombe will be placed on the barred list from other police forces and the Fire and Rescue Service.
Chief Superintendent Andy Rundle, Head of Professional Standards Department, said: “The public rightly expects officers to behave in a professional manner, with the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and respect. Former officer Anscombe showed a clear disregard for these expected behaviours when she made a false allegation to the NSPCC, identifying herself as the relative of a family with whom she had no previous contact.
“Within this allegation, she made an inaccurate claim, which further subjected a family to unnecessary investigation and intrusion. Tina Anscombe’s behaviours demonstrated a lack of respect for the family and was a clear breach of the standards of behaviour expected of a police officer.”
Chief SI Rundle said he was supportive of the panel’s findings, adding the department’s investigation into the case demonstrate the force’s commitment to robustly dealing with misconduct.
“Thankfully, the majority of our officers and act with integrity and work tirelessly to serve the public,” he said.
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