Plebgate Officers 'Regret' Mitchell Distress

Two police officers who held a meeting with Andrew Mitchell in the wake of the so-called Plebgate row have said they "regret" the distress the affair has caused him and his family - but stopped short of an apology to the former chief whip.

Detective Sergeant Stuart Hinton and Sergeant Chris Jones were questioned by the Home Affairs Select Committee over
"misleading" evidence given during their appearance before MPs last month.

Along with Inspector Ken MacKaill, the Police Federation representatives of West Midlands Police were previously accused of attempting to discredit Mr Mitchell after meeting him in October last year.

The men apologised for the distress in the wake of the original incident in September last year, in which Mr Mitchell was accused of launching a foul-mouthed rant at officers outside Downing Street.

Both officers said they could not say sorry for something they had not done - and would not apologise over claims that they gave misleading accounts of their meeting with the politician.

Mr Mitchell was stopped from cycling through the Downing Street gates

Reading from a prepared statement, both men told the committee: "While the committee appears to believe, however, that we are indifferent to Mr Mitchell's predicament, and the distress caused to him and his family since the original incident in Downing Street, we are not.

"Each of us fully recognises and regrets the fact that such distress has been caused.

"We share the belief that the investigation into the original incident in Downing Street has already taken a disproportionate period of time and should be resolved in the interests of all parties without delay."

They added: "Our position so far as our meeting with Mr Mitchell is concerned has not changed."

Det Sgt Hinton gave an "unqualified apology" to the committee for misleading the panel over a comment he used to describe Home Secretary Theresa May.

In a transcript of his meeting with Mr Mitchell in October, Det Sgt Hinton had referred to her as "this woman" but when questioned by the MPs last month he said it did not refer to Mrs May and it had been a transcript typo.

However, today, he said: "While I believe at the relevant point in the meeting I appear to have failed to bring the Home Sercretary's name to mind I fully accept that this does not excuse the form of expression I used in the meeting with Mr Mitchell and I apologise."

Sgt Jones went on to disclose, under intense questioning from Committee chair Keith Vaz, that 13 complaints of misconduct had been made against him during his 28-and-a-half-year career.

He said only two of them had been upheld resulting in him being given "management advice".

In two of those cases, action had to be taken. The first involved "use of force" in which Sgt Jones had pushed someone in the back, "resulting in an injury to his mouth".

The second case was over "performance of duties" and occurred when Sgt Jones was asked to secure some CCTV footage. He said that he had failed to check he had the correct footage and when it was checked it had turned out to be wrong.