A probationary police officer accused of urinating in clothes shop changing room wept as her boss described her as an ‘exemplary’ member of staff.

PC Amelia Shearer sobbed as Inspector Christian Duree told a disciplinary hearing how she called him to explain what she was accused off during a boozy session in York with a friend.

The officer was shopping and drinking with her friend on September 11 last year when she was allegedly caught short at around 3.30pm in Urban Outfitters in the city centre.

A Cleveland Police disciplinary panel heard how the young officer ignored being told there was no toilets and headed into a changing cubicle instead.

Read more: Drunk police officer 'urinated in clothes shop changing room' hearing told

The officer categorically denied the allegation when she gave evidence at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium this morning but accepted she became ‘flustered’ because she feared her career would come ‘crashing down’ on her.

At times fighting back tears, the young officer remained adamant that she had only popped into the changing rooms to adjust her underwear and profusely denied urinating in the cubicle.

The officer admitted that she was ‘tipsy’ after enjoying a bottomless brunch where she downed half a bottle of prosecco and three cocktails before moving onto another bar for a Jack Daniels and coke and then heading into the store to look at clothes.

The Northern Echo: Urban Outfitters, York. Picture: GOOGLEUrban Outfitters, York. Picture: GOOGLE

When asked whether she had urinated in the changing rooms, she replied: “I didn’t do that. I went into the changing room to resolve the issue with my underwear.”

She told the panel she left the shop ‘quickly’ because she was embarrassed about being asked to leave but re-iterated that it was not because she had used the changing room as a toilet.

PC Shearer admitted that she was ‘flustered’ when she was stopped by the police in the street to be quizzed about the incident in the shop but maintained that was because she didn’t want to be embarrassed if somebody from home recognised her.

On Monday, the panel heard how the business was forced to close the changing rooms for three days while a ‘biohazard’ deep clean was carried out costing the firm almost £500.

This morning, Inspector Christian Duree, who was overseeing the probationary officer’s fledgling career, said she was upset and crying throughout a 15-minute telephone call the day after the alleged incident.

He said: “Amelia was upset, crying down the phone to me, she was embarrassed, in her own words ‘mortified’.”

He said the probationer told him she had been drinking and socialising in York and she had been stopped by a police officer who said she was alleged to have urinated in the Urban Outfitters changing room.

“She told me she had been in the shop and had been in the cubicle to try clothes on.

“She was adamant she had not urinated in the changing room.”

During her final submission, Olivia Checa-Dover, representing Cleveland Police, said any explanation, other than the officer being responsible for the puddle of urine, would be ‘fantastical’.

She reminded the panel that the two staff members told the same version of events and said it would be ‘bizarre’ mistake for them both to make.

And Joan Smith, representing the officer, said PC Shearer had always maintained that she was not responsible for the puddle of urine and said it was her client who asked if the store had any CCTV of the alleged incident.

The officer is alleged to have breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour in respect of Discreditable Conduct.

It is alleged she behaved in a manner resulting in damage being caused to a changing room of a retail store causing financial and operational inconvenience and loss, and Honesty and Integrity.

The force says that PC Shearer then provided an account of the incident to her supervision that she knew or ought to have known was inaccurate.

The officer denies both allegations.

The panel is expected to return its verdict tomorrow morning (Wednesday 24).

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