Ken MacKaill, Chris Jones and Stuart Hinton face fresh investigations after giving misleading evidence.
Inspector Ken MacKaill, Sergeant Chris Jones and Detective Sergeant Stuart face fresh investigations after giving misleading evidence. Reuters

Three police officers accused of misleading MPs over the so-called 'Plebgate' scandal face fresh investigations by the UK police watchdog.

Inspector Ken MacKaill, Sergeant Chris Jones and Detective Sergeant Stuart Hinton will be investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), after the body said the evidence they gave to an influential committee of MPs revealed a number of "procedural irregularities".

The three officers will also be recalled to the House of Commons this week to apologise to the home affairs select committee for giving misleading accounts of a meeting with former Conservative chief whip Andrew Mitchell.

MacKaill, Sergeant and Hinton were initially told they would face no action for misconduct following a report delivered to the IPCC, but the latest developments mean the trio may be found guilty of contempt of parliament if they do not apologise for not providing truthful accounts.

A report from the home affairs select committee said the evidence given by the three Police Federation representatives in a meeting last month was "misleading, possibly deliberately".

Andrew Mitchell was forced to resign at Conservative chief whip after the ‘Plebgate’ affair in 2012.
Andrew Mitchell was forced to resign at Conservative chief whip after the ‘Plebgate’ affair in 2012. Reuters

The officers said Mitchell refused to give a full account of what he said when he was accused of calling police officers "f*****g plebs" in September 2012 after he was prevented from cycling through Downing Street gates.

However, a 45-minute recording of a meeting Mitchell held with the three officers in an attempt to resolve the issue revealed that the officers had misrepresented him.

Deputy IPCC chairman Deborah Glass said: "Evidence given to the home affairs select committee on October 23 revealed a number of procedural irregularities between the production of the draft and final West Mercia reports."

Keith Vaz, the chairman of the home affairs select committee, likened the evidence given by the three police officers to a work of fiction and said the committee was "appalled" by the situation.

Mitchell was forced to resign his cabinet position after the incident last year. He apologised for using bad language but denied using the word "pleb".