A police officer reviewed bodycam footage believed to show the Epsom College principal and her family after they were shot dead.
The bodies of headteacher Emma Pattison, 45, and her daughter Lettie, 7, were found on the grounds of the prestigious school on February 5, 2023.
It is believed that Mrs Pattison’s husband, 39-year-old George Pattison, shot them both before killing himself.
Officer Baseer Ahmed viewed at least some of the footage related to a case that “has generated significant local and national interest,” a misconduct commission has ruled.
Surrey Police have not confirmed what specific footage was viewed, but the date matches when officers were called to Epsom College.
A hearing on July 1 this year heard that Mr Ahmed had access to the footage of the “serious incident in East Surrey” on February 7, 2023, while his boss, Ch Supt Budd, was on annual leave. Mr Ahmed insisted he had not watched it in its entirety. He is now banned from police work.
He told the panel he had viewed the footage for “a legitimate police purpose and in the performance of his role as a staff officer” but that there was no reason why he had viewed the footage.
The Misconduct Commission found that Mr Ahmed had breached policing standards by viewing the footage, concluding that he would have been dismissed for his serious misconduct if he had not left the force by December 2023.
Clare Harrington, chair of the panel, said: “Mr Ahmed viewed the body-worn footage for no policing purpose, in breach of relevant policy and without specific instructions to do so.
“It is important to remember the high standards the public rightly expects from police officers, the extremely difficult circumstances faced by family members in this particular case and the likely consequences for them of unnecessary viewing of the footage.
“[Mr Ahmed] decided to view the footage and in doing so failed to meet the highest standards of conduct expected of him.
“The context of the misconduct was a deeply disturbing and high-profile matter which Mr Ahmed knew was the focus of considerable public attention and scrutiny.
“After careful consideration, the panel is ultimately satisfied that if Mr Ahmed had remained a serving officer, he would have been dismissed for the misconduct as we have found.”
‘Unacceptable breach of trust’
Following the panel’s decision, Supt Andy Rundle, Surrey Police’s head of professional standards, said Mr Ahmed’s behaviour was “not acceptable”.
“The public rightly expects police officers to conduct themselves with integrity and respect at all times,” he said.
“Former officer Ahmed breached this trust when he viewed body-worn crime scene footage despite having no policing purpose. This behaviour is unacceptable and a full investigation into professional standards has been launched.
“During the hearing into his misconduct, the presiding officer ruled that the allegation did indeed amount to a breach of the Standards of Professional Conduct at the level of serious misconduct and that, had he still been a serving officer, he would have been dismissed.
“He will also be placed on the College of Policing barred list. We support the decision of the hearing and hope it shows how seriously we take misconduct issues as a force.
“Fortunately, the majority of our officers and staff come to work every day to protect the public and uphold standards of professional conduct.”
An inquest into the deaths at Epsom College will take place on Tuesday.
This is not the first time that the police have come under fire for misusing bodycam footage at crime scenes.
A Nottinghamshire Police special constable has been sacked after viewing body-worn video footage of Nottingham bombing victims Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber. Paranoid schizophrenic Valdo Calocane killed the pair in the early hours of June 13, 2023.
Police have filed multiple misconduct charges against officers in connection with the case.
Investigations revealed that eleven staff members viewed material related to the case but had no legitimate reason to do so.
Officers also shared WhatsApp messages describing how the two university students, who were stabbed to death after a night out, had been “badly slaughtered”.
Dr Sanjoy Kumar, Grace’s grieving father, told The Telegraph at the time that the reports were “as barbaric as the crime itself”.
Earlier this year, Cameron Hanson, a 33-year-old officer with Lancashire Police, and Kirstie Hanson, his wife and 33-year-old police colleague, were jailed after sharing video footage of a murder case.
Hanson was attending a speech in October 2021 and found the body of 45-year-old James O’Hara. He captured the discovery on his bodycam, but later sent audio messages about the incident to his wife and used his personal phone to take video of Mr. O’Hara.
Hanson and Kirstie Hanson were sentenced to 32 and 18 months in prison respectively.
Earlier this month, the mother of two murdered sisters revealed she attempted suicide after two Metropolitan Police officers, who had taken photographs of their bodies and shared them on WhatsApp, were released from prison.
Mina Smallman’s daughters, Nicole Smallman, 27, and Bibaa Henry, 46, were murdered by Danyal Hussein during a picnic in a park in Wembley in June 2020.
Deniz Jaffer, 49, and Jamie Lewis, 34, were both jailed after pleading guilty to misconduct in public office. They later appealed and were released early.
Ms Smallman told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that their early release prompted her to commit suicide. She said: “I knew they were going to come out. [of prison] but the whole trauma of their journey and the effect of when they appealed and applied to go to an open prison… The journey was just back, forward, back, forward.”
“I thought, ‘You know what, I don’t want to be here. I’ve had enough, I’ve had enough.’ And yes, I did attempt suicide.”