A POLICE officer described as one of the best has denied lying during an investigation into the death of a pedestrian on the A12.

Stanway Traffic officer PC Joanne Jeggo was the subject of a police misconduct hearing yesterday.

She is accused of lying about asking for additional information from a police dispatcher after being called to reports of a man walking along the A12 at Hatfield Peverel.

PC Jeggo and PC John Simpson were dispatched to investigate reports of a man, Kyle Brooks, walking alone on the road.

They carried out an unsuccessful search and later filed incident reports in which they claimed they had tried to find out more about his location.

Mr Brooks was later struck by a vehicle and killed.

PC Jeggo claims she used her radio to ask for additional information on the whereabouts of the man, before carrying out her search on October 30, 2014.

Stephen Morley, representing the Office for Professional Standards department, said: “Once the investigation has started the officer was asked to make a report. One paragraph is a lie: ‘As I got into the police vehicle I asked for the location.’ The issue is was it a mistake or was it a lie?

“It was not a mistake just made by her, PC Simpson made pretty much the same mistake. We say that’s unlikely, to make the same mistake about a radio conversation that didn’t happen.”

PC Jeggo contests she confirmed via radio the location was Hatfield Peverel, junction 20b, towards Witham. However, there is no audio record of this.

Det Insp Truss described hearing communication over the radio back and forth, between a period of around 15 minutes.

He described PC Jeggo as reliable and hardworking.

PC Jeggo, who has 13 years service, said: “I wanted to know exactly where I was going.

“I think there is more conversation. I am 100 per cent certain.

“To this day I believe I made that call. We went to the location we were sent to.”

n The hearing continues.