A former police officer who was caught playing rugby while off sick with a back injury has quit before he could be sacked.
Investigators said Ethan Aherne, 28, who worked for West Mercia Police, would have lost his job if he hadn’t already resigned, reports Birmingham Live.
An accelerated misconduct hearing heard how the disgraced former officer had “betrayed hard working” colleagues at the force by “taking his pay cheque”, while they were “serving victims of crime”.
Officers caught Aherne playing rugby in Cardiff.
A hearing heard how he had breached the standards of professional behaviour. This was in relation to discreditable conduct and honesty and integrity.
It comes after Aherne was convicted at Kidderminster Magistrates’ Court of fraud by false representation on September 29, 2023. Aherne had already quit the force in December 2022 after 15 months of service.
The accelerated misconduct hearing heard how Aherne was off sick claiming he had a back injury but was ‘in fact playing rugby on a regular basis’.
The panel was chaired by Chief Constable Alex Murray who said: “Ethan Aherne’s deception was calculated and totally immoral.”
“He exploited and abused the welfare systems in place within the force to support officers and staff who have genuine physical health issues. He also betrayed all the hard working officers of West Mercia Police, taking his pay cheque whilst they would be engaged in work serving victims of crime that he should have been doing.”
He added: “I’d like to thank the team in the anti-corruption unit who led the investigation into Aherne, and secured evidence which was instrumental in securing the criminal convictions against him.
“Officers like Aherne have no place in policing and he will now be added to the College of Policing’s Barred List banning him from working for a UK police service in the future.”
