Police officer committed gross misconduct selling Auschwitz relics on eBay
Pc Matt Hart faced four allegations relating to the selling of historical items linked to the Second World War, specifically items connected to Auschwitz and the Third Reich
A police officer has been found to have committed gross misconduct by selling Auschwitz and Nazi relics on eBay.
Pc Matt Hart, of Northamptonshire Police, faced four allegations relating to the selling of historical items linked to the Second World War, specifically items connected to Auschwitz and the Third Reich.
It was claimed that the officer had breached the standards of professional behaviour relating to “discreditable conduct and orders and instructions”.
The officer had sold barbed wire and items described as “fence insulators” during the early part of last year, according to the Jewish Chronicle.
Pc Hart denied the accusations but a panel found the allegations relating to the sale of items on eBay proven as gross misconduct, following a disciplinary hearing earlier this month.
In the written outcome, published on Tuesday, the panel said Pc Hart had shown an “extreme lack of judgment and insensitivity”.
It said that the most suitable outcome was dismissal without notice.
It added: “The officer has shown an extreme lack of judgment and insensitivity which is not fully acknowledged.
“He sought to justify his conduct at every step and offered a rationale which cannot be accepted by the panel.
“He manipulated the listings … with a view to frustrating eBay policy over a significant period of time.
“He was not open and transparent with his own force.
“There is a failure to embrace (his own) responsibility and a lack of recognition which troubles us going forward.
“We lack faith in his judgment and compliance with matters requiring openness and self-regulation in future.”
The panel made clear that there was no evidence of any criminality by Pc Hart nor was there any evidence that his activities were driven by “extremist right-wing views, sympathies with or allegiance to Nazi or Neo-Nazi ideology”.
It said that it recognised and accepted Pc Hart had a genuine historical interest in that period of history but found “what had been taken and done was insensitive and inappropriate in the extreme”.
It added: “The officer has a very respectable service record which we acknowledge together with an impressive set of commendations.
“He is not malicious or racist. He is not a danger to the public.”
A further allegation that Pc Hart had also sold knives was found not proven, the panel said.
Pc Hart has a right of appeal, it added.
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