A dishonest police officer has been sacked after lying in a formal witness statement to conceal a sexual relationship with a man under criminal investigation.
Former PC Ellie McNamara, of West Mercia Police, falsely stated in a signed MG11 witness statement that she was not in a relationship with the man.
But messages and admissions she made to a colleague revealed that the pair were involved in an ongoing sexual relationship—and had even met on the day she signed the statement on June 2, 2025.
Chief Constable Richard Cooper, who chaired McNamara’s accelerated misconduct hearing, described it as “operational dishonesty” at “the most serious end of the scale”.
He said: “Former PC McNamara has lied as a witness on a question of fact within a signed witness statement.”
The man was subject to police bail conditions preventing him from contacting named witnesses, including McNamara.
However, between April 10 and December 8, 2025, she initiated and received contact from him without challenging or reporting the breaches.
McNamara also failed to submit a notifiable association notification, despite force policy requiring officers to disclose links with people under criminal investigation.
On August 6, 2025, she completed an Annual Integrity Health Check but again failed to disclose the relationship.
The hearing found all four allegations proven and ruled that each amounted to gross misconduct.
Chief Constable Cooper said the later failures were “a series of connected opportunities” for McNamara to tell the truth.
He added: “She created the situation for herself, because of the lies in the MG11, that further lies were required to conceal her operational dishonesty.”
The chief constable found the harm caused by the witness-statement lie was “very high”, warning: “Lying in formal statements undermines justice.”
He added that police officers who lie in statements diminish the trust society places in those responsible for gathering evidence.
McNamara had no previous disciplinary sanctions during her relatively short police service. The judgment also acknowledged indications that the nature of the relationship and the man’s behaviour reduced her culpability for some of the later allegations.
However, Chief Constable Cooper concluded that the repeated dishonesty was too serious for any sanction short of dismissal.
“Police officers cannot lie in statements,” he said.
McNamara was dismissed without notice and will be placed on the College of Policing barred list, preventing her from returning to policing.
