A POLICE officer had been drink-driving when she crashed her car – with a three-year-old child inside it – on a road near Keighley, a misconduct hearing was told.

PC Abigail Pigram was more than twice over the legal limit when the collision took place at Vale Mill Lane in August, 2022.

She was later convicted of drink-driving and given a 12-month driving ban.

The panel found that Pigram was guilty of gross misconduct and would have been dismissed if she had not already resigned.

There was no personal mitigation offered on the former police officer’s behalf at the hearing.

The panel was told how Pigram crashed her private vehicle while off duty at around 6pm on August 16.

Pigram had been to a birthday party with the three-year-old and by her own admission had drunk a normal-sized glass of Prosecco.

During the crash, the vehicle left the road, slid down a small embankment and damaged a fence before coming to rest.

Pigram left the scene with the child, leaving a member of public to report the incident.

She returned 90 minutes later and identified herself as the driver.

Police suspected that Pigram had been drinking and performed a roadside breath test, which she failed.

She was arrested and just after 9pm that same day she provided two further evidential samples of breath, the lower reading of which was 60 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

Pigram pleaded not guilty to an offence of driving while over the prescribed limit of alcohol.

In court, Pigram claimed she drank alcohol after the car accident, when she got home.

The magistrates rejected that defence and she was convicted.

The panel also rejected the former officer’s assertion that she had only drunk one standard glass of Prosecco at the children’s party because “that amount of alcohol consumption was not consistent with such a high alcohol reading”.

They found that Pigram drove “intentionally knowing or foreseeing the heightened risk of serious harm she posed to herself, the child, pedestrians and other road users”.

The panel said: “When a police officer, who is expected to enforce this important piece of law, commits the offence themselves, public confidence is inevitably harmed.

“For a police officer to convey a small child in a car after drinking over the limit is also highly irresponsible and is also likely to harm trust and confidence in the police.”