Police officer sacked after punching two women in row about Meghan Markle

Off-duty inspector dragged one woman to ground and struck her before hitting second in face, misconduct tribunal hears

A senior police officer who hit two women after an argument about Meghan Markle and race on the day of the King’s Coronation while off-duty has been sacked.

Insp Tola Munro, from South Bristol, dragged one woman to the ground and punched her before hitting another in the face on May 6 last year, a misconduct tribunal was told.

The former president of the National Black Police Association “completely lost control of himself” when a discussion about the Duchess of Sussex and race became heated and personal, the BBC reported.

Mr Munro denied the allegations, insisting that he was “provoked” and had acted in self-defence. But barrister Mark Ley-Morgan, representing Avon and Somerset Police, accused him of telling “an absolute pack of lies”.

The senior officer has now been sacked from the force after he was found guilty of gross misconduct.

Jane Jones, the tribunal chairman, labelled the incident a “terrible irony” because Mr Munro had previously helped tackle violence against women and girls.

The tribunal heard that Mr Munro should have “risen above provocation” when one woman, Witness A, became confrontational during a heated discussion about race.

Witness A called 999 at around 1pm that day but apparently changed her mind mid-call. Police traced her number and sent officers to the location where the inspector had punched them, the tribunal heard.

Witness B, the second woman, told police that Mr Munro had hit her in the side of the face as she tried to step in.

Mr Ley-Morgan said Mr Munro insisted he was “defending myself” after he was arrested on suspicion of two counts of common assault.

The case was referred to the Crown Prosecution Service, which deemed there was insufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of a successful prosecution.

Giving evidence, Mr Munro said he grabbed Witness A by the shoulders and guided her down to the floor as she tripped after shouting and screaming at him.

“I didn’t want her to hurt herself. She kicked out at me which I blocked with my hands and then I thought Witness B was coming over to strike me so I put my hand up to block her,” he claimed.

“I believed at the time I was defending myself in response to being kicked at and Witness B intervening who I thought was going to strike me. I didn’t punch Witness A in the face. I didn’t punch Witness B.”

‘Undermines work against gender violence’

Supt Mark Edgington, head of the Professional Standards Department, said: “Ultimately, there is no place in policing for an officer who is found to have assaulted any member of the public.

“Whether on or off-duty, officers and staff must adhere to the standards expected of anyone serving in policing and Inspector Munro failed to do this.

“As an organisation we have carried out a huge amount of work in recent years around the topic of violence against women and girls.

“Insp Munro’s actions have undermined those efforts and will likely damage public confidence in policing.

“We hope the public can see from the actions we have taken that these allegations have been taken seriously from the moment we learned of them.

“The public’s trust in policing is dependent on rooting out any officer, no matter their rank or experience, who should not be serving the public. We hope the robust action taken in this case highlights that commitment.”