Ex-officer on trial for perjury in police tribunal

A former Police Scotland firearms officer has gone on trial charged with perjury in connection with evidence he gave at an employment tribunal.

Keith Warhurst is also accused of sending indecent images or videos of topless women to a WhatsApp group of male police sergeants, and making a derogatory comment about a colleague's pregnant partner.

Mr Warhurst gave evidence at a tribunal in 2021 and is accused of denying he shared the images or made the remark, when he in fact knew that he had done so.

He denies the charges against him at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

Giving evidence, a former firearms officer Richard Creanor alleged that in April 2017 he witnessed Mr Warhurst make the derogatory remark about their colleague's pregnant partner.

Mr Creanor said that fellow officer John Morgan had told several colleagues in an office that his partner had discovered she was pregnant.

He told them he took the previous day off work to go to a hospital appointment with her because she initially believed she had a cyst.

Mr Creanor claimed that Keith Warhurst then swore and said the woman must be fat "if she didn't realise she was pregnant".

When asked by the procurator fiscal depute how he responded, Mr Creanor said he was "stunned".

"However, I need to also explain there is also a dark humour that exists within the police - things that would not be acceptable in any other walk of life," he added.

"But I felt that went past inappropriate banter. It was just a horrible thing to say."

Mr Creanor claimed that John Morgan responded to Mr Warhurst's remark and appeared "furious", but under cross-examination from the defence could not remember what Mr Morgan had said.

Both Mr Creanor and Mr Warhurst gave evidence at an employment tribunal in 2021.

Mr Creanor told the court he told the truth at the tribunal and was telling the truth now.

He also said he was "furious" for a "variety of reasons" in the aftermath of the tribunal.

One reason, he said, was that "Keith had insinuated or stated that I had lied, by giving his own evidence saying these things were not true".

Mr Warhurst has since left the force.

Mr Creanor was also asked about a WhatsApp group that several sergeants in the unit were members of.

He told the court that in the autumn of 2017, Mr Warhurst sent images of topless women to the group chat.

Mr Creanor claimed that he was not offended by the images and did not take the issue any further.

The court also heard from a former officer who had served with both men at the time and said the culture at the unit was male-dominated.

Simon White, a team sergeant on the firearms unit who has since retired, told the court he had also received the images in the WhatsApp group.

He described them as "sexualised images" and said that Keith Warhurst had sent them.

Mr White claimed that he responded to the images with "something like Keith, do you realise you're an inspector now?"

Mr Warhurst had recently been temporarily promoted at the time the images were allegedly sent.

Mr White told the court that although he wasn't offended by the images, he found it "surprising" given the group chat was work-related and that Mr Warhurst had recently been promoted.

When questioned on the culture at the firearms unit at the time, Mr White said there were "very few" women and that it was "male-dominated".

Under questioning from the defence, Mr White confirmed that "images of a jokey type" could "possibly" have been sent on a regular basis.

The trial continues.