'Racist' police sergeant ignored calls about murder just 700 metres away because she was 'focussed on paperwork'

Kirsten Treasure was on duty at Addington station on the night father-of-three Andrew Else, 52, died after being brutally stabbed more than 200 times by Ephraim Norman in nearby Selsdon Park Road in April 2014.

When the 999 call came in, her junior officer Nathan Munday pleaded with his boss to respond to reports of the attack, a Metropolitan Police misconduct panel was told today.

But the young constable said he had been ignored by Sgt Treasure, who only agreed to respond when other units had arrived and begun trying in vain to revive Mr Else.

RELATED: Police sergeant accused of failing to respond to murder also 'lied about investigations and tried to silence colleagues'

Giving evidence to the panel today, PC Munday, 23, repeated multiple allegations of Sergeant Treasure’s unprofessional conduct – including giving him the nickname “c**t”, referring to a room full of black diners as “like the Amazon rainforest” at a police Christmas party, and making fun of another officer’s large breasts.

The sergeant, who is accused of multiple breaches of the force’s professional behaviour standards, was placed on restricted duties in July 2014, almost a year before allegations of her misconduct became public.

She is also accused of bullying officers into giving false evidence, lying at a previous misconduct interview, and preventing members of her team investigating a potential crime.

Asked by Robert Talalay, representing the Met, to describe the events of April 24, 2014 - the night Mr Else was stabbed to death - PC Munday recounted standing in the yard at Addington station next to Sergeant Treasure on a cigarette break alongside other officers.

When the first call about the attack came in at about 10.25pm, and no unit could be heard over the radio responding immediately, PC Munday told panel he had said: “Sarge, that’s just there.”

He added: “[I] pointed up the road towards Selsdon Park Road

“Sergeant Treasure didn’t respond to me.”

The sergeant had responsibility for several teams officers across Croydon that night, PC Munday said, and seemed to be “more focussed on that paperwork than what we were saying”.

The constable said he again pressed Sgt Treasure to respond after a further call came in about the stabbing soon after the first.

He told the court: “Again I said, Sarge, it’s literally just there’ and pointed in the direction of Selsdon Park Road.

“Again she didn’t say anything to me.”

PC Munday suggested it was inconceivable Sgt Treasure had not heard the radio or him commenting on the call.

When word came through that another response unit was on its way to the scene of the attack, she even appeared to show annoyance, according to PC Munday.

He said: “She said, ‘I didn’t tell them to go to that’”.

Emergency response officers from Croydon station, nearly four miles away, were the first to arrive at the murder scene within seven minutes of the frenzied attack.

PC Munday added: “That time of night the traffic wasn’t exactly heavy. I would say we would have got there in literally two minutes, three minutes.

“The first thing they said over the radio was that they were starting CPR.”

On hearing this, PC Munday said, the sergeant finally appeared willing to respond to the incident.

He told the panel: “She said, ‘I suppose we should help them’.”

Mr Else was later pronounced dead at the scene. 

PC Munday added: "If I'm honest I feel like I had let them down. I felt disappointed. Maybe we could have prevented something.

"I know what happened was horrific but I felt maybe we could have prevented something if we got there first."

Ben Summers, representing Sgt Treasure, disputed PC Munday’s account and suggested the initial call had not included full details about the location of the attack.

He said: “I suggest that didn’t come till later, [and] that then the decision was made by the sergeant to respond to the call.”

Mr Summers claimed PC Munday’s allegations against Sgt Treasure stemmed from a desire to “get rid of her as a sergeant” after she criticised his performance, adding: “You have recast these events in the worst imaginable way.”

The lawyer also suggested the constable had colluded with other members of the team to frame Sgt Treasure.

During the first day of a hearing that was often interrupted by unexplained gaps in the public video feed, PC Munday also recalled how Sgt Treasure would often refer to him as “boy” or “c**t” in front of other members of the Fieldway Safer Neighborhood team.

Another member of the team had been given the unwelcome nickname LaLa, PC Munday said, adding: “It was used many times - similar to when I was being called c**t.”

The constable said he only started to be offended by the abusive nickname after speaking to another officer.

While denying his client had ever called PC Munday “c**t”, Mr Summers said nicknames had been used by all members of the team to refer to each other in a familiar manner, rather than a tool for bullying.

PC Munday also described the team’s Christmas party in December 2013 at the Mae Ping restaurant in South End, where a  “drunk” Sgt Treasure is alleged to have referred to an officer’s gay father as a “poof” during a discussion about his cooking.

The constable, who said he was sitting next to the officer in question, said: "It was more awkward than anything. I didn't think she [the officer] reacted when that was said but I did say to her do you get offended by that, and she didn't answer me. But I could tell she wasn't happy.”

At the restaurant, Sergeant Treasure is also alleged to have made racist comments  about guests at a private party taking place in the next room.

PC Munday said when new guests arrived the sergeant would mutter “fucking hell, another one”,  and “at one point a white male walked in and Sergeant Treasure said to him, looking towards him, ‘I wouldn’t go in there, it’s like the Amazon rainforest.

“My personal opinion, I thought it was a racial comment.”

Sergeant Treasure denies all the allegations. The hearing - which is set to hear evidence from 14 witnesses, including a number of police officers - is scheduled to conclude on May 27.

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