Sussex Police officer faked Covid tests with red pen

The Sussex Police officer, who can only be named as Officer A, came back from holiday in Spain and falsified two lateral flow tests by using a red pen to draw on her test before sending it to her colleagues and senior detective superintendent.

As a result, she had a day off and worked from home the next day, a police misconduct hearing held on Wednesday, July 5, was told.

She initially messaged colleagues in a WhatsApp group chat on March 13 last year two days after getting back from holiday.

The officer messaged her group that evening with a picture of her test saying “What do we think?".

MOST READ:

• Time called on classic car run as organisers blame ULEZ and 'reduced parking' in city
• Restoration of historic Madeira Terrace delayed again over 'escalating costs'
• 'Brighton and Hove is the best city in the world' - new leader call for ambition

Someone replied saying it looked “odd” and suggested she do another one.

Officer A sent a second lateral flow test picture shortly after and said it “Doesn’t look great”.

She was asked if she felt unwell and said no to which someone in the group joked “Have you got a red pen?” with a laughing emoji.

Officer A then sent messages to her detective superintendent with the test results and suggested she would have to work from home.

Sussex Police HQ in Lewes (Image: Andrew Gardner/The Argus)

Her detective superintendent said they hoped she was feeling okay to which she replied that she had a “banging headache” and needed to get rid of it so she could avoid being off sick entirely.

She also asked if she could start at 9am so she could get an extra hour's sleep to try and get rid of the headache.

Officer A then said that she thought she would have to take the day off on March 14 due to not being able to get rid of the headache, the misconduct hearing was told.

She took March 14 off and worked from home on March 15.

An application was put in place to protect Officer A’s identity due to mental health and stress-related issues she suffered before.

Two medical experts assessed her and agreed on her mental state, according to Colin Banham who was representing her. Details of this were heard in private.

She had time off in November 2021 due to work-related stress and time off in January 2022.

The misconduct hearing continues.