Police officer resigns over Thatcher comments

A serving police officer in the UK who posted offensive messages online following Baroness Thatcher’s death has resigned.

Sergeant Jeremy Scott, who worked in a back-office role for the Metropolitan Police, is understood to have written on Twitter that he hoped Lady Thatcher’s death was “painful and degrading”.

Scotland Yard confirmed Sgt Scott had submitted his resignation and it was accepted with immediate effect.

Commander Allan Gibson added: “This officer’s behaviour was completely unacceptable and it is right that he has resigned.”

Under the Twitter handlethinbluespeck, which has since been taken down, Sgt Scott said Lady Thatcher’s death was “87 years too late” and added that the world was a “better place”.

Before resigning today, Sgt Scott reported the matter himself to the Directorate of Professional Standards, which is responsible for investigating complaints against officers’ professional conduct.

His resignation comes after figures from Scotland Yard revealed that three police officers have been sacked for misusing social media over the past five years.

Allegations linked to the use of sites including Facebook and Twitter have been recorded against 75 Metropolitan Police officers since 2009, with 38 of the claims substantiated.

British Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday branded some reaction to the death of Baroness Thatcher as “pretty distasteful”.

Several “death parties” were held on the day she died, while an online campaign has driven sales of the song Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead to number four in the official chart.

Commenting on the so-called death parties, Sgt Scott reportedly tweeted: “Marvellous stuff! Margaret Thatcher’s death greeted with street parties in Brixton and Glasgow.”

Directing his anger at other politicians, he also wrote: “Goodnight Twitter. The world is a better place today now that c*** is dead. Now for Cameron, May and Osborne.”

Asked if he was disappointed about animosity towards the former prime minister, Mr Cameron said: “I think the overwhelming sense across the country – and you can see it yesterday in the House of Commons – is that we are mourning the loss of someone who gave a huge amount to this country, that was an extraordinary leader.”

Elsewhere, a council leader in the UK has joked that his authority should fly a flag bearing “a happy smiling face” to mark Baroness Thatcher’s funeral.

The comment in an internal email to Labour colleagues was made by Coventry City Council’s leader, John Mutton, as they debated whether to lower the Union Flag to half-mast next Wednesday.

Mr Mutton’s email prompted fellow Labour councillor, Dave Chater, to write that he would have preferred to see Baroness Thatcher “hanging from a flagpole” in the early 1980s.

In the email, which was eventually sent in error to Conservative councillors, Mr Mutton wrote: “Colleagues, whilst I have had to smile at some of the jokes doing the rounds following the death of Thatcher, it has been brought to my attention that normally, following the death of a former Prime Minister, we receive an instruction from the queen telling us to fly the Union Flag at half-mast.

“Apparently, Birmingham have stated that they do not intend to fly the flag at half-mast on the day of the funeral.

“My own view is that I would fly a flag with a happy smiling face on but I would like to know the views of colleagues.

“Would you please let me know your views, if you have any, by Monday at the latest.”

The comments were described as being “beneath contempt” by the Deputy Leader of Coventry’s Conservative Group, John Blundell.

Mr Blundell, who met Baroness Thatcher in 1976 while a member of the Young Conservatives and again in 1991 while acting as a constituency treasurer, said: “I would say first and foremost that I would expect the Council House to be flying the flag at half-mast on Wednesday following normal protocol.

“I am going to write to the chief executive seeking his assurance that that will happen.

“We should be respectful and there should not even be a debate about whether or not the flag is flown at half-mast.”

Defending his remark about the late former prime minister, Mr Chater, who was today helping volunteers to tidy up a village green, said: “I did think about her as a frail old lady when I heard of her death, but my comments were made in the context of the 1980s when I became a councillor.

“In one month, we lost 26,000 jobs in the manufacturing base.

“For both Coventry and the wider world, there wasn’t any redeeming feature of her as leader of the Conservatives, or as prime minister.”

A spokeswoman for Mr Mutton said he was in a meeting and referred requests for further comment to the council’s communications department.