Brit lesbian cop hangs herself after being ‘bullied for her appearance’

LONDON - A lesbian police officer in Britain committed suicide after she felt that her superiors bullied her over her sexuality, picked on her and ostracised her over her appearance.

Lara Goldie, 28, who had sported short, spiky hair while training at the Metropolitan Police College in Hendon, north London, left a four-page suicide note, in which she accused members of the training team of bullying.

One of her training officers even passed her a McDonald’s leaflet - goading her that she would end up working in the fast food restaurant if she did not sort out her appearance, while others warned her that “her every move was going to be watched”.

Two months after she qualified on June 13 this year Goldie, who was also coming to terms with the break-up of a long term relationship, hung herself in the hallway to her flat in east London.

“Lara felt ostracised at Hendon training college and people had made inappropriate comments,” the Daily Mail quoted her flatmate, Debbie Plowman, as telling the hearing at Poplar Coroner’s Court.

“She felt that she was the one who was being picked on in the classroom and that everyone was laughing at her. It felt like every time she came home she was passing on remarks that people had made to her,” she said.

Plowman also revealed that there were many times when Goldie would come home and say ‘I’m just going to jack it in’ but she didn’t want to do it, she wanted to make a difference.

She had even spoken with her counsellor Kamili Allnutt, saying that the mentality of some of the officers was racist and homophobic, and that she questioned herself if she should continue or not.ergeant Stephen Landy was in charge of her training in a class of 23 recruits, which included two other gay women.

“She came across as very capable, friendly and humorous, she was gelling well with the group which is why we gave her the role as class captain, she was very excited about it,” he said.

Sergeant Landy told the hearing that she had not struggled with performance during the 25 weeks she had spent under his watch but he had had to pull her up several times on “following the rules” about her lateness and her appearance, including her hairstyle and lip piercing.

He was unaware of Goldie’s history with depression, as the recruitment team had not informed him.

A subsequent police investigation found that there was “inappropriate” comments and language used at Hendon, but no evidence of misconduct.

“There were increasing concerns about her employment and there were some incidents that caused her more distress than it appeared at the time which were inappropriate,” Coroner Gail Elliman said.

“It is also apparent that she was taking more harshly the break up of her relationship than perhaps even she realised,” she added. (ANI)