Police instructor used bolt cutters to remove earrings from three female trainees - leaving one bleeding, disciplinary hearing is told

A strict police instructor left a female trainee bloodied after using bolt cutters to remove earrings from three student officers, a disciplinary hearing was told.

PC Martin Briggs' told the trainees to place their heads on a folded jacket on a table top while he used the 'not particularly reputable looking pair of bolt cutters' to remove the jewellery, one of the women said.

PC Martin Briggs' 'astonishing' treatment of the young women breached police standards of behaviour and amounted to gross misconduct, the hearing was told.

The officer was overseeing a 'bleep test' - a drill which involves running back and forth in a straight line - when he insisted all jewellery be removed by the 63 recruits.

Three officers - PC Georgia Hedditch, PC Elizabeth Christie and PC Holly Law - told him they were physically unable to remove their stud earrings.

When PC Hedditch jokingly suggested he 'you'll have to cut them out', PC Briggs left the sports hall at Dorset Police HQ and returned with the pair of bolt croppers.

He then had them file one by one into an office next to the hall and told them to put their heads down on a jacket on a desk, it was heard.

PC Briggs lent over them and 'forcibly cut' their earrings out.

After finishing with one officer he held up the bolt croppers, opened and closed them and asked 'who's next?', it was heard.

The women were left 'distressed and embarrassed' after their ordeal on April 17 last year, it is alleged.

The junior officers all said they complied as they thought if they didn't do the test they would fail the course and damage their career prospects.

PC Briggs admits to making a 'highly regrettable error of judgement' but denies behaving 'discreditably', stating he removed the jewellery with the students' consent.

A police colleague, PC Samuel Davies also faces allegations of gross misconduct as he witnessed the treatment but failed to stop it or report it.

Mark Ley-Morgan, a barrister representing Dorset Police, said the students were not told beforehand that they must remove their jewellery to do the fitness test.

'PC Briggs' behaviour was described by different witnesses as angry, abrupt, rude and impatient', he said. 'He was swearing a lot.'

The hearing was told the officer was 'incredibly aggressive' to the students who he accused of 'f*****g with my OCD' by incorrectly filling in a form before the test.

Mr Ley-Morgan said: 'He insisted all jewellery must be removed before anyone did the test.

'He came back with bolt cutters and what looked like secateurs.

'Three very junior officers came into an office, putting their head on a table, having their earrings forcibly cut out.

'Surely steps should have been taken to rearrange their fitness tests to the next morning, to give them time to have their earrings removed?

'It is a serious incident which should never have happened and it is astonishing that it did.

'What would a member of the public thinking of joining the police service make of this, that Dorset Police is an organisation where you can have your jewellery cut out?'

The hearing heard that although PC Briggs produced a pair of bolt cutters he may have used smaller 'tin snips' to do the removals.

But the junior officers believe they were bolt cutters used on them.

Giving evidence, PC Hedditch said she had only been an officer for three weeks on the day of the fitness test.

She said she managed to remove most of her jewellery but had an earring which she could not get out.

She told the hearing that PC Briggs had been 'losing his temper' with the students and seemed 'exasperated' at them.

She then told him: 'If you want to get the earring out, you'll have to cut it out.'

PC Hedditch told the hearing: 'I didn't think that it would actually be actioned.

'I had only been there for three weeks so I didn't want to challenge the assertion.

'He came back with a not particularly reputable looking pair of bolt cutters.

'I was called into his office and put my head on the desk (for the removal) because I didn't want to move too much.

'I heard the earring ping somewhere and walked out.

'In hindsight, it should never have happened.'

Representing PC Briggs, barrister Genevieve Woods said that PC Hedditch gave him permission to remove the earring and had said it was 'about time the earring came out'.

PC Christie had also been an officer for three weeks when she had six earrings removed – and said she feared losing her job if she didn't comply.

She said: 'When it was my turn to go in Martin Briggs was in the room he was holding these really long bolt cutters in his hands and was opening and closing them. He said 'who's next'.

'I remember starring at them and thinking 's**t they are big'.

'It was overwhelming. I was shaking with adrenaline and trying not to cry.'

In response, Ms Woods said that PC Christie was aware that police had a two earrings policy and that officers were told they could 'expect to be challenged' about their standards of dress.

Representing PC Davies, barrister Guy Ladenburg passed on his client's apologies to all three officers for the 'distress and anxiety' caused by his failure to challenge PC Briggs.

The hearing continues.