A FORMER Cheshire Police officer has failed in his bid to have his dismissal from the force for gross misconduct overturned.

Sergeant Stuart Berry, who was based at Warrington Police Station, was convicted of harassment against his estranged wife at Preston Magistrates Court back in March 2021.

The following month, he was sacked at a disciplinary hearing before then chief constable Darren Martland after his actions were found to have amounted to gross misconduct.

But his criminal conviction, for which he received community service and a curfew, was quashed during an appeal hearing at Preston Crown Court in June.

This led to the former Army corporal and UN peacekeeper also appealing his dismissal from the constabulary.

However, the original ruling was upheld during a hearing – which was not publicly advertised in advance – at Cheshire Police’s headquarters in Winsford on Monday, February 14.

A notice subsequently posted on the force website read: “On the December 9 2021, a police appeals tribunal directed Cheshire Police to remit allegation one of an accelerated misconduct hearing – first heard on April 22 2021 – against Sergeant Stuart Berry following a successful appeal against a criminal conviction.

“Sergeant Berry had previously been dismissed on April 22 2021 following off-duty incidents in April 2020.

“Sergeant Stuart Berry attended an accelerated misconduct hearing at Cheshire Police headquarters on the February 14 2022 and was again dismissed.”

The constabulary declined to comment further on the matter.

Sergeant Berry’s conviction arose out of events occurring between December 2019 and April 2020.

On one occasion, he had emailed his ex – having learned through an estate agent that she had taken the marital home off the market after it had been put up for sale following the breakdown of their marriage.

Oliver King, defending, told the original misconduct hearing that his client – who had served with the force for 18 years – was ‘courteous and polite’ during this message and ‘stuck to the matter at hand’.

Then, while drunkenly browsing YouTube during a period in which he was signed off from work with depression, he came across ‘songs that meant something to him and his wife from happier periods in their marriage’ and sent her with three links to such videos.

His ‘emotional and sentimental’ actions were described as ‘misconceived or ill-judged’.

Sergeant Berry, an operational manager at the Arpley Street station, ‘vigorously denied that his conduct amounted to harassment’.

He had previously been handed a non-molestation order by Crewe Family Court in October 2020, preventing him from contacting his former partner for a year.