Sheffield police officer accused of using warrant card to get into city nightclub guilty of gross misconduct

A South Yorkshire Police officer accused of attempting to use her warrant card to access a Sheffield nightclub in the hours after going home sick from her night shift would have been sacked had she not resigned.

That was the conclusion reached by the panel at the accelerated misconduct hearing of former police constable Holly Lee, after determining that her actions amounted to gross misconduct.

A document, detailing the panel's findings, states: "The panel found that the officer breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour...and that the breaches amounted to gross misconduct.

"The outcome of the hearing was that the officer would have been dismissed without notice had she not previously resigned."

The allegation that went before the panel on January 23, 2024 claimed that in August 2022, Ms Lee advised her sergeant that she was unwell and not fit for duty on a night shift.

In the early hours of the following morning, she subsequently used her warrant card to try to gain entry to a nightclub in Sheffield.

It also alleged that such conduct would amount to breaches of the Standards of Professional Behaviour in respect of Discreditable Conduct, Honesty & Integrity, and Duties & Responsibilities.

South Yorkshire Police’s guidance on misconduct hearings state that they should be heard by a panel of three people that should be chaired by an ‘independent legally qualified person who will be chosen from a pool held by the local policing body, the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC)’.

The other panel members should be an ‘officer of at least the rank of Superintendent and an independent lay person, selected from an approved list held by the Office of the PCC’.