A BRISTOL police officer who punched a man in a bar while off-duty has been warned he faces the sack after being found to have committed gross misconduct.

PC Jedd Perry struck the man twice in the face on a work night out in August last year because he believed his girlfriend, also a constable, was being “sexually assaulted” on the Green House dancefloor in Bristol.

An Avon & Somerset police misconduct panel ruled on Friday after a four-day hearing that his actions were unreasonable and unjustified and amounted to gross misconduct “serious enough to justify dismissal”.

PC Perry had admitted misconduct but denied gross misconduct, insisting he was right to take drastic steps when he saw the man laying his hand on the lower back of his girlfriend. 

He was cleared of gross misconduct on a second count of making a discriminatory comment along the lines of “Why don’t you go back to your own country” to a female colleague of Romanian heritage 12 days before the incident at the city centre pub on College Green.

Announcing the decisions, Legally Qualified Chair (LQC) Adrian Phillips said that while the man in the bar was causing a nuisance with his unwanted advances, “there would be no reasonable basis for a belief that the woman was being sexually assaulted”.

Mr Phillips said the woman had worked for the police for five years, including as a tutor, and could have dealt with the situation herself.

The LQC told the hearing at Avon & Somerset Police headquarters in Portishead that PC Perry, who was 21 at the time, had to be held back by other off-duty officers on the night out as he tried to continue the confrontation, resulting in a “melee”.

PC Perry was also accused of leaving the scene after the incident spilled outside and failing to return to speak to attending officers, but the panel cleared him of this.

The case was adjourned part-heard after the findings of fact on Friday afternoon and will resume on Tuesday, November 29, with submissions by barristers representing both the force and PC Perry on what sanction the panel should impose.