Former police officer wins damages after boss hides her phone in 'prank'

A former policewoman who was injured when a prank by a colleague backfired has won a large payout from Essex Police.

Rebecca Jenkins, a former PC, fell off a table and hit her knee on it after climbing up to get her phone from a void in the ceiling.

Her former supervisor Sergeant Alan Blakesley had hidden it, in what he claimed was a light-hearted attempt to boost morale after the team had a tough weekend of work.

But although the judge accepted the prank was not intended to be malicious, he ruled that it had “crossed the line”.

Ms Jenkins sued Essex Police for £500,000 after the incident at Grays police station in July 2012, claiming that her career prospects had been damaged by the injury.

But a judge at Central London County Court described her claim the injury had damaged her chances of promotion as “fanciful”.

Judge Simon Freeland QC ruled that Miss Jenkins should be awarded £9,000 in general damages, plus costs for care, travel, prescriptions and loss of overtime over 16 months.

Her total award came to £10,825.70, which includes a deduction of one third for what the judge ruled was her “contributory negligence”.

She was off work for periods of time in November 2013 and in 2014 but was eventually dismissed because of performance concerns.

Ms Jenkins suffered stress and mild to moderate depression in the months after the incident, the court heard, but the judge ruled that she “exaggerated” her claim that she could not return to work.

Camera footage of her running errands and shopping in November 2016, showed no evidence “apparent pain or discomfort” according to Judge Freeland, who said the video “significantly” undermined her claim.

“The claimant could crouch down, walk briskly, get out of a car without bending. I reject her claim that her walk and gait were clumsy,” he told the court.

Judge Freeland said there was “no evidence to say that her career prospects have been ... blighted and her judgment is speculative and fanciful in these regards.”

He added: “In the end I am unable to find she is a dishonest witness but her account has been exaggerated.”

While he accepted that the prank which involved hiding the phone had been a “conscious attempt to boost morale”, he decided it had gone too far.

“In my judgment, this prank crossed the line from the acceptable tomfoolery, joke and horseplay within the workplace to the unacceptable and dangerous,” he said.

As for Ms Jenkins’s attempts to get the phone down, he said: “It was a foolish act to climb on the desk and she should have asked for help and or the phone to be retrieved.”

In conclusion, he said that Miss Jenkins recovered 18 months to two years after the incident, and that the stress she suffered was to do with her home life after her partner left and was not to do with the injury.

Additional reporting by Press Association