Royal protection officer sacked for lying about lost bullet at Buckingham Palace

An armed royal protection officer who lied about losing a bullet in the grounds of Buckingham Palace and covered it up for eight days has been sacked.

Stephen Cotgreave, based within the Metropolitan Police’s Royalty and Specialist Protection, was on foot patrol alone in the gardens of Buckingham Palace on the afternoon of December 6 2022 when he accidentally dropped the magazine from his firearm.

He picked up the magazine and placed it back inside the gun but when he returned the firearm to the armoury at the end of his shift an hour later, it was found that one round of ammunition was missing.

The officer, who was 48 at the time, was then asked if he could explain the missing bullet but he insisted he could not and denied dropping the magazine.

The incident, which was captured on CCTV, “should have led to an immediate and full search of the area” and posed a risk to the welfare of the royal household, a misconduct hearing heard on Monday.

It happened on the day a protester had thrown an egg at the King during a walkabout in Luton before he returned to the palace with Camilla to host an evening reception alongside the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Unyime Davies, on behalf of the Metropolitan Police, told the panel sitting at the Empress State Building in west London: “As a result of Pc Cotgreave’s short round, all the magazines were emptied and a thorough account was conducted, and the loading bay was searched.

“Asked if at any point the magazine dropped from the weapon, Pc Cotgreave still denied any knowledge of how the round went missing.”

He eventually recovered the missing bullet eight days later on December 14 at the same location he first dropped the magazine.

The officer went to the control room of Buckingham Palace where he admitted that he had dropped the magazine – explaining that he had felt “stupid, ashamed and embarrassed” since the incident.

It was then alleged that, in failing to admit to the incident on December 8, the officer breached the force’s standards of professional behaviour in respect of honesty and integrity.

In a statement dated from December 14, he admitted dishonesty and misconduct – but denied gross misconduct, arguing that he had panicked and acted in a “moment of madness”.

Nicholas Yeo, defending Mr Cotgreave, told the misconduct hearing: “We do fully accept that this is a serious matter, but it is to be set against his history of 24 years of unblemished service, and to be taken into account the fact that, realistically, there was nothing more that this officer could do to put it right once he realised that he was in the wrong.”

But Harry Ireland KC, chairman of the panel, told the hearing that Mr Cotgreave had “plenty of time for reflection” in the eight days that passed after the bullet first went missing, as well as the “perfect opportunity to come clean”.

Mr Ireland added: “We find the culpability in this matter to be high as there was a deliberate course of conduct by the officer which posed a risk to the welfare of the public and the royal household.”

The panel found Mr Cotgreave had committed an “abuse of trust, particularly as working in the royal household”, and because he had been “concealing wrongdoing for eight days and lying to fellow officers on three occasions” about the incident.

Mr Cotgreave, who shook his head as the panel’s verdict was returned, was dismissed with immediate effect for gross misconduct at the end of the hearing.