Pc loses plea to keep job after racist remark
by John Steele, Crime Correspondent

A POLICEMAN who called a 14-year-old boy a "black bastard" during an argument in a police van lost his appeal yesterday to a senior Scotland Yard officer to overturn his dismissal. Steve Hutt, 38, will now take his case to a Home Office tribunal - the final level of appeal for an officer punished in the Metropolitan Police.

 Mr Hutt, once part of the guard for the Prince and Princess of Wales at Balmoral, appeared before Assistant Commissioner Ian Johnston to appeal against his punishment for the remark. He has always admitted that he was ashamed of the comment and that he should be punished. But he argued that being forced to resign after nearly 20 years was too harsh a penalty. However, Mr Johnston refused to overturn the previous decision.

 Close to tears, Mr Hutt said on the steps of Tintagel House, the offices of the Met's complaints and discipline department, that he believed that the decision had been "blatantly political". He said: "I made a two-second mistake in a violent situation. My life has been ruined by two seconds of madness but I am not a racist. I think most people know I was a hard-working officer. The community in Fulham supported me."

 Mr Hutt, who had received two commendations for bravery, recalled that the mother of the 14-year-old had written to the original discipline tribunal, in February, saying he should not be sacked. He said: "Mr Johnston said he had admiration for the way I had conducted myself.

 "He was impressed by the way I had supported a black Pc [a colleague] in his time of need. He said he gave weight to the mother's letter but it didn't make a difference because he stuck with the ultimate sanction. He said he had to send out the strongest message that such behaviour would not be tolerated."

 Mr Hutt said his police pension would be frozen until he was 60 and, as he had lived in police accommodation, he now had to find not only a new job but also a new home. He has been staying with friends.

 Mr Hutt was suspended on full pay after the incident in Fulham, south-west London, last year. The boy had been picked up in Fulham on suspicion of trying to break into parking meters, though he was never charged.