Dog walker finds dossier of paedophiles and victims ‘dumped by police officer by public skip’

Sergeant Martin Skirving-Chehab facing misconduct hearing following watchdog investigation

The Cleveland Police officer faces accusations of gross misconduct (PA Archive / PA Images)

A police officer accused of dumping documents identifying paedophiles and their victims near a public skip is to face a misconduct hearing.

A dog walker found pages of a dossier detailing at least 15 different criminal cases in a street in Hartlepool in June.

“I saw the pages with ‘sex offender’ on and then a police logo and traced them back to an overflowing skip where this blue book was lying on the ground,” the man told The Sun.

“I looked inside and there were all these details. I was shocked.”

The documents contained the names, addresses, bank details and family information on convicted sex offenders, as well as details of victims who are granted lifetime anonymity under the law.

Cleveland Police launched an investigation into the “clearly unacceptable” discovery and contacted the people named.

The force, which was found to be failing in all areas by the policing inspectorate earlier this year, referred the incident to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

“We carried out the investigation concerning the removal and disposal of sensitive material from police premises,” an IOPC spokesperson said.

“The material, relating to investigations of a highly sensitive nature dating back to 2016, was found near a skip in Hartlepool by a member of the public in June 2018.

“The member of the public contacted a national newspaper and a reporter handed the materials to Cleveland Police, who referred this matter to us for consideration.”

The IOPC said evidence suggested Sergeant Martin Skirving-Chehab had been in possession of the documents.

“We found he may have breached the police standards of professional behaviour and concluded that he had a case to answer for gross misconduct,” a statement added.

The force disciplinary hearing is due to start on Monday and is expected to last four days.