Five firearms trainers at the National Crime Agency sacked for faking official records

Five firearms trainers at the National Crime Agency (NCA) have been sacked after it was found they faked official records.

The group were all ruled to have committed gross misconduct after an internal investigation into claims they had falsified records linked to firearms training between December 2021 and July 2022, the NCA said.

One of the sacked officers had been due to be called as a prosecution witness in a separate trial at Liverpool Crown Court where an NCA officer was accused of two counts of misconduct in public office.

Prosecutors decided not to pursue the case after the witness was sacked.

Another three trainers resigned from their jobs before they could face disciplinary hearings.

Two would have been sacked and the third would have been given a written warning if they had still been in post, the NCA found.

NCA deputy director Nigel Leary, said: “The NCA expects the highest standards of integrity and conduct from its officers.

"Our mission is to protect the public from serious and organised crime, and it is important that we do this with the support and confidence of the people we serve.

"To do this effectively it is essential that we root out misconduct and ensure we only ever have the right people working for us.”

The Liverpool Crown Court case was linked to allegations of corruption against an NCA officer in October 2018, who resigned from his job in May 2019.

The NCA is now considering whether to bring disciplinary proceedings after the prosecution was withdrawn.

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