TWO Basingstoke police officers who bragged about driving drunk through Southampton at 100 miles per hour have been sacked.

PC Michael Spake, 26, and PC Adam Holloway, 30, have been dismissed from their posts at Basingstoke for sending racist, homophobic and misogynistic messages to each other.

The correspondence between the officers took place on WhatsApp between July 11, 2023 and August 28, 2023, and included messages discussing their drink driving, committing “street justice” and punching female colleagues.

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(Image: Newsquest)

There were also frequent racial, homophobic and misogynistic slurs.

The messages were read out by DI Simon Clifford, prosecuting, at a hearing in Winchester on Tuesday June 25.

One message thread discussed the friends on a night out, when Spake drove drunk at 100 miles per hour through a Southampton estate:

PC Holloway – "Still not as good as your one the night we went out me you and Al."

PC Spake – "Driving about 100 [smiling emojis]."

PC Holloway – "Mate that’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen going like 100 through woolston [smiling emoji]."

PC Spake – "I was battered as well [smiling emoji] mate this job makes me more of a **** I swear."

PC Holloway – "Mate 100% it’s because we know what we can get away with and how much red tape there is [smiling emoji]."

PC Spake – "Yeah I know for a fact there wouldn’t be any advanced drivers near by enough before I lost who ever was behind me and prove I was drunk or even driving."

PC Holloway – "Exactly that and mate let’s have it right even if there was none of them are crazy enough to do 100 through a council estate [smiling emoji] with kids running about still."

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In another thread, Spake wrote he would “throat punch” a female colleague he had been sleeping with.

They also fantasised about dealing out “street justice” after a male member of the public filed a complaint against Spake, imagining "kerb stomping" and "witness intimidation".

Among the derogatory words they used to describe women was “brass”, a term for prostitute which was common in the 1970s. 

Spake and Holloway also discussed getting PC Spake’s girlfriend to plagiarise PC Holloway’s student dissertation in exchange for £500 so that PC Holloway could enjoy “months of plt [Protected Learning Time] to plug birds and booze it up”.

Both officers accepted they had committed gross misconduct but neither of them was present at the hearing.

The mitigation on behalf of the two officers was presented by Spencer Wragg of the Police Federation.

Chief Constable Scott Chilton, who chaired the disciplinary hearing at Mottisfont Court, dismissed Spake and Holloway on the basis of the evidence presented, summing up the case as follows: “In terms of sanction, it is clear to me that the only appropriate outcome is for these officers to be dismissed with immediate effect and both officers to be placed on the College of Policing barred list for the maximum period available to me of five years.

“The messages shared by PC Spake and Holloway are the most abhorrent I have ever seen. I am professionally incensed that these now ex-officers could hold views that are racist, homophobic, misogynistic and generally utterly vile, while serving as police officers in this force.

“[…] They represent the very worst in society, as opposed to standard-bearers of humility, decency and as those who are there to protect people.”

Spake and Holloway handed in their resignation notices on May 30, but until the hearing had remained serving officers due to their obligations to finish their notice periods.