KIERAN BLAGDEN

A former police officer has been found guilty of gross misconduct after it was claimed he threw cans of alcohol at his partner's head in a jealous rage.

PC Kieran Blagden, who worked at South Yorkshire Police, carried out the alleged attack at his home in November 2023 after going through his partner's phone when he believed she had been unfaithful, a misconduct hearing was told.

During an ensuing argument, he admitted throwing a bag of cans at the wall in anger but denied the cans had hit her, or that he had punched her.

However a hearing on 8 September found Blagden had breached standards of professional behaviour and he would have been dismissed from the force had he not already resigned.

The hearing, at the Professional Standards Department in Sheffield, also heard that Bagden admitted "seeing red" on the night of the incident and saying things "he did not mean to" because he found messages on his partner's phone from another man.

He said he also threatened to take their child away before leaving the property to go and stay with his mother.

The hearing heard: "Regarding the bag of drinks, he said there was a bag containing around five cans.

"He said he threw the bag so that his partner could not enjoy them and he described his partner being on the sofa at that point when he had thrown the bag, about two or three metres to the left of where she was sitting." But in a statement to officers, his partner claimed Bagden, who had only joined the force the month before, had struck her and that the cans hit her in the head.

In a letter read out in the hearing, Bagden said he had resigned from South Yorkshire Police but it was "not an admission of guilt" and that his former partner had also apologised to him.

There were also no criminal charges brought against him.

However, the panel found that Bagden's actions amounted to "discreditable conduct" and that he did "intentionally" punch his partner in the ribs.

"The panel find that the officer behaved in a reckless manner by throwing the carrier bag whilst in the same room his partner, and therefore reasonably could have foreseen that she may well have been injured", it added.

The panel called the partner's version of events "credible" and confirmed her main injury was to the rib area which would be consistent with being punched there.

The hearing's outcome stated Bagden was guilty of gross misconduct due to factors including violence against women and undermining the public's trust in the police.

The panel called Bagden's actions "wholly unacceptable" and added: "We find that former officer PC Blagden would have been dismissed if still a serving officer and this is the correct outcome."