Kettering police officer sacked after turning up to work with too much alcohol in system

A Northamptonshire Police officer who turned up to work with too much alcohol in his system has been sacked for gross misconduct.

Thomas Lord worked as a police constable in Kettering and breached the force’s alcohol and substance misuse policy.

A misconduct hearing on Monday heard Mr Lord presented for duty and provided a sample that had more than 13 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath.

Mr Lord admitted breaching professional standards relating to fitness for duty, orders and instructions and discreditable conduct at the hearing at the force’s headquarters at Wootton Hall in Northampton.

He was sacked without notice.

Other police officers found guilty of misconduct this year include former PCs Rachel Cantwell and Karen Canwell. Both of their hearings took place in March and both resigned before they would have been sacked.

Cantwell crashed a Suzuki Vitara in West Challow, Oxfordshire, while over the drink drive limit in December 2022. Canwell was nominated for a national bravery award in 2019 for helping victims of a suspected acid attack in Northampton in July 2017.

But the hearing at the force’s headquarters at Wootton Hall was told she attacked a bouncer and labelled them a “convicted rapist” and racist in December 2021. She was convicted of assault last November.