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Police officer pretended his fake girlfriend died of cancer to get extra time off work

Harry Sarkar
Harry Sarkar

A student police officer invented – and then killed off – a terminally ill girlfriend to persuade his superiors to give him extra time off work, a misconduct hearing has heard.

Harry Sarkar, 21, had only been employed by West Midlands Police for two months when he approached his bosses and claimed his partner was dying from cancer.

To allow him to support her, the force agreed that the young constable could have a flexible working pattern, which he kept up over a “prolonged period”.

He eventually told his inspector in April 2021 that the worst had come to pass and he was given three days off to mourn the death of his imaginary girlfriend.

His “tissue of lies” did not end there, however, as a “subsequent fake funeral” was also dreamt up by Mr Sarkar and discussed with colleagues, a misconduct hearing was told.

The elaborate deception took place during the second and third Covid lockdowns, when the force was under pressure because of the number of officers testing positive for the virus.

Suspicions rise before resignation

It was only when Mr Sarkar returned to work full time that officers became suspicious about his demeanour and it was soon established that the whole story was fantasy.

Mr Sarkar resigned before he could face a fast-track misconduct hearing at the force’s Birmingham headquarters on Thursday, which would have seen him dismissed without notice had he still been on the payroll.

He declined to attend the 13-minute hearing before Sir David Thompson, the chief constable.

Det Chf Insp Az Ahmed told the hearing the offending took place between Oct 2020 and June 2021, with Mr Sarkar quitting in March 2022.

Sir David concluded that the former constable would have been dismissed for discreditable conduct and breaches of standards of honesty and integrity.

He told the hearing: “While this case is not one that has compromised an investigation or involves the officer using powers in bad faith, it is more than a small irregularity.

“Given it concerns a lie about the serious illness or death of a partner, was perpetuated for a considerable period to the team, and special allowances were created, it raises worrying character traits for the officer.

“The public would not expect this from an officer and will be concerned over the obvious odious nature of such a misrepresentation.”

‘A significant abuse of trust’

Before becoming a full-time police officer, Mr Sarkar volunteered as a special constable and helped carry out Covid patrols in the West Midlands.

He was interviewed for an industry magazine in April 2020 and boasted about how he was working 130 hours a month when he was only required to work 16.

“It always feels like it’s my first day every day I put the uniform on – and I am helping take some strain off my colleagues,” he told the publication.

His good will towards his colleagues did not appear to last long, however, as the force found the deception represented “a significant abuse of trust” with fellow officers.

The regular repetition of the lies over a “substantial period of time” was also found to be an aggravating factor in his case.

Sir David said there was “no obvious mitigation or reason to excuse this behaviour”.

Concluding the hearing, he said: “No other sanction would have been suitable and the officer would have been dismissed without notice and accordingly.”

Mr Sarkar’s name has been added to the register barring him from being a police officer.