Abusive Tweets Police Sacked

An investigation was launched after an email was sent accusing Pc Wise of sending tweets of an abusive, sexist or derogatory nature.

Pc Wise told investigators he had been "absolutely stupid".

A police officer has been sacked after posting abusive tweets about celebrities and calling for a deprived estate to be bulldozed with "people still inside it".

Pc Graham Wise, who also looked up information on criminals without justification - some of whom he went to school with - was found guilty of gross misconduct.

In his tweets, he called former EastEnders actress Danniella Westbrook a "washed up cokehead with one nostril", described tennis player Nick Kyrgios as a "b******", and called TV personality Gemma Collins a "fat c***", a disciplinary hearing at Cleveland Police's Middlesbrough headquarters was told.

Pc Wise admitted sending some of the expletive-laden messages from the police canteen during his breaks.

He had previously policed the Tilery estate in Stockton, Teeside, where Benefits Street was filmed, and tweeted a local newspaper saying: "Bulldoze it, preferable with the majority of people still inside it."

Tweeting about a character from the reality show Benefits By the Sea, Pc Wise wrote: "Hopefully by the end of the show Disco Dave will be dead. #rats."

He posted: "Some defence solicitors really grip my s***," when commenting on the show 24 Hours in Custody.

He also called Dillian Whyte, a boxing opponent to Anthony Joshua, a "t***", a "t*****", and a "deluded idiot".

Disciplinary panel chairman Gerry Sydenham said his actions were a "sustained, repeated and very serious disregard of professional standards of behaviour expected by police officers."

Asa Anderson, counsel for the force, said that Pc Wise had said he thought only his 170 followers were able to view his tweets, when in fact they were accessible to the public.

Some of his tweets made it obvious he was a serving officer, the hearing heard. 

Pc Wise, who had served in the Royal Navy, looked deflated when he was told he would be immediately dismissed for gross misconduct.

His counsel, Mark Aldred had urged the panel to let him continue in his role, saying the tweets had been sent while he was ill. 

The searching computers for intelligence about criminals, Mr Aldred said, had been the result of "idle curiosity".