A Lincolnshire PC has been handed the sanction by an independently chaired panel.

A Lincolnshire PC has been given a final written warning after he continued a traffic pursuit despite being told it was not authorised.

PC Jared Brereton had not been trained to carry out pursuits and was given the instruction not to pursue.

The car being pursued crashed into a tree in Skegness, killing the driver Kyle Johnson.

Mr Johnson's VW Scirocco struck a tree alongside the A52 Croft Bank Road just after 11pm on March 4 2022.

Shortly before the collision, the Scirocco had failed to stop for the police while being followed from Skegness town centre due to the manner in which it was being driven.

Moments after PC Brereton activated the car’s lights and siren, the force control room supervisor instructed him not to continue.

Telematic data from the vehicle and CCTV footage indicated that the car continued at speeds of between 92 and 102mph for 39 seconds. The lights and siren were deactivated moments before the collision.

Gross misconduct has now been found proven against the officer by the panel.  

Gross misconduct was not proven against a second officer, PC Phoebe Chambers, who was a passenger in the police vehicle. She had been accused of failing to challenge or report PC Brereton’s actions despite knowing that authority for the pursuit had not been given.

After hearing the evidence, the panel determined that PC Brereton had breached standards of police professional behaviour for duties and responsibilities, and orders and instructions.  

Both officers were also accused of breaching the standards of honesty and integrity by providing misleading accounts of the incident, but the panel found these allegations not proven.

IOPC Regional Director Derrick Campbell said: “Our thoughts and sympathies are with Mr Johnson’s family at this difficult time for them.

“It was apparent from the evidence we gathered that PC Brereton knew that following the instruction not to pursue he should have followed policy by deactivating his emergency equipment, pulling off the road and going in a different direction.

"Despite the instruction PC Brereton continued to pursue at high speed until just before the tragic collision. The disciplinary panel found gross misconduct proven and the final written warning will stay on his record for two years.”

Lincolnshire Police have not issued a comment.