A senior police officer threw a stress ball at a junior officer’s throat for no apparent reason, a misconduct panel heard.

Essex Police’s Deputy Chief Constable Matthew Horne is facing disciplinary proceedings over three allegations of misconduct which are said to have breached Essex Police’s standards of professional behaviour in the areas of authority, respect and courtesy and discreditable conduct.

He denies all three allegations.

During the first day of the hearing, the panel heard during a meeting between Mr Horne and Chief Superintendent Carl O’Malley and Assistant Chief Constable Maurice Mason, he threw the rubber ball which struck Mr O’Malley in the throat leaving a red mark.

Stephen Morley, outlining the case said: “They were sitting down and there was a professional disagreement.

“On this occasion he picked up a ball on his desk – a stress ball about the size of a tennis ball which was made of rubber foam.

“He threw it at Mr O’Malley, it hit him, it hurt and left a red mark on the neck area.

READ MORE: 'I don't know why I didn't arrest him'

“He was angry about it, but was worried about his own position. He wanted to be promoted and knew Mr Horne was on the panel to make the decision.”

During the investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) Mr Horne accepted he did have stress balls which he sometimes bounced on the table or desk, and even throw to colleagues, but said he had never thrown one at Mr O’Malley.

In a second allegation, Mr O'Malley claimed Mr Horne pushed him, causing him to fall onto the desk.

It is alleged to have happened within two weeks of the first incident and both are said to have happened between October 2015 and May 2016.

The third allegation is Mr Horne, while he was employed as Assistant Chief Constable, approached Det Chief Supt Glenn Maleary in 2015 at a car park outside the Essex Police Force Control Room in Chelmsford, where he then angrily swore at him.

Mr Maleary had taken over responsibility of the force control room in the days leading up to the alleged event.

During the alleged altercation, Mr Horne allegedly called Supt Maleary a "f**king c**t" in front of another officer.

The hearing heard Horne yelled: "What sort of a c**t are you to let things get in such a f**king mess?"

He allegedly added: "You've got 24 f**king hours, make every one count
otherwise you're history. I've got to go before I punch something."

Mr Morley added: "Mr Horne was standing over [Supt Maleary], speaking through tight lips with narrowed eyes and clenched fists, using the words 'f**king' and 'c**t' and was essentially accusing him of being negligent, having only been in post for a short number of days."

The panel heard Mr Horne was angry about the performance of the force control room – especially the number of unallocated incidents and the number of domestic violence related matters.

During an interview he admitted being frustrated, but said he would never use one of the swear words he is accused of saying.

The hearing which is being overseen by Dorian Lovell-Pank QC is expected to last five days.

Mr Horne has an exceptional service record, but Mr Morley said: “If you have a senior officer behaving in this way your risk damaging public confidence in the police.

“Nobody coming to work for Essex Police should have to fear this sort of behaviour.

“Senior officers treating junior officers in this way is not suitable.”

Recently, Mr Horne has been on secondment to the National Crime Agency where he holds the post of deputy director general.