A “racist” police sergeant accused of ignoring reports of a fatal stabbing claimed she was unfamiliar with the location of the murder - despite the attack taking place just 700 metres away from the station where she was based.

Officers at Addington station received a 999 call on the night of April 24, 2014, reporting that a man had been knifed outside nearby John Ruskin College in Selsdon.

Sgt Kirsten Treasure later told senior officers she failed to immediately respond to call because she believed the school was in Coulsdon, a Metropolitan Police misconduct panel heard yesterday.

Father-of-three Andrew Else, 52, died after being brutally knifed more than 200 times by Ephraim Norman during the frenzied attack.

Former colleagues of Sgt Treasure have come forward with multiple allegations of bullying and unprofessional conduct – including racism, homophobia, and repeated sexual comments about other female officers.

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Summing up the case against Sgt Treasure after nearly two weeks of evidence, the Met's lawyer Robert Talalay said it was “deeply improbable" she had not known where John Ruskin College on the night of Mr Else's murder.

He said: "This is an officer who had policed Croydon for 14 years. She’s been caught out in a lie, and as such she is trying to change her story to make it try and fit in."

Mr Talalay told the panel that Sgt Treasure, in her first misconduct interview eight months after the stabbing, had claimed she heard reports of the attack outside the school but did not hear a road name.

She told bosses she had not thought to respond, believing the school to be in Coulsdon, and it was only when she heard "Farnborough Avenue" over the radio that she deployed her team.

Mr Talalay alleged Sgt Treasure had changed her story between that first interview and giving evidence to the panel, and then again in cross-examination when presented with logs of her radio activity on the night of the murder.

He also claimed the sergeant fabricated her ignorance of the school’s location after her colleague Sgt Jason Chapman admitted he had thought it was in Coulsdon.

RELATED: 'Racist' police sergeant ignored calls about murder just 700 metres away because she was 'focussed on paperwork'

On the first day of the hearing PC Nathan Munday told the panel how Sgt Treasure had not responded to news of the attack over the police radio and had ignored him twice when he mentioned how close it was to Addington station.

Mr Talalay noted that Sgt Treasure had admitted driving down Selsdon Park Road at least once a week during her time as head of the Fieldway Safer Neighbourhood team, and added: “It was accepted that there was no discussion about the location of John Ruskin College when the bus was leaving the yard [on the night of the stabbing]."

On Monday the panel heard evidence from a former member of the team, Shazad Ahmed, who claimed Sgt Treasure's boasted about being "untouchable" because of her close relationships with senior officers.

Mr Ahmed, now a detective constable, had been the first to make an official complaint against her.

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Officers near the scene of Andrew Else's murder in April 2014

Altogether 11 former colleagues have come forward to accuse Sgt Treasure of regularly using racist language and bullying staff and members of the public.

This behaviour is said to have involved using words including “coon,” “paki,” and “Scopey” - a reference to the disability charity Scope.

She is also alleged to have likened a room full of black diners to "the Amazon rainforest" during a work Christmas party and called the bald DC Ahmed "8-ball".

Ben Summers, summing up the defence, accused DC Ahmed of acting like a "spider in the web" in an attempt to try and oust the sergeant, riling up other officers and causing them “consciously or unconsciously to paint Sgt Treasure in the worst possible light".

He suggested a confusion about the location of John Ruskin College was by no means improbable - despite PC Munday previously telling the panel the school was "well-known in the borough".

Mr Summers said: “There is a difference between knowing where something is and knowing what it's called.

“The idea of a sergeant of this experience should wilfully choose not to deploy to an instance such as this should be made with healthy scepticism, not naivety."

He added: “If my understanding of the evidence is right, nobody said she knew where John Ruskin College was."

Addressing the other allegations, which also included Sgt Treasure asking members of her team to give false evidence following an arrest, Mr Summers asked the panel to take into account the good character references of her provided by other former colleagues.

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These references, which included Chief Inspector Peter McGarry, recently implicated in a controversy over late-night licensing in Croydon, described Sgt Treasure as “extremely approachable” and “rigorous in her expectations of officers and challenging laziness”.

One said: “At no point did Sgt Treasure make me feel stupid for asking questions.”

Mr Summers repeated his client's denials of using words like “c**t” or “coon,” telling the panel: "It’s an easy allegation to make, and quite a difficult one to refute. It doesn’t fit with what you know of the officer."

He admitted she had once described a fellow female officer in reference to her large chest, but denied she had used the phrase "massive tits" or spoken of her desire to see the officer "coming out of the shower in a white t-shirt."

Romantic relationships between officers on the team had created a difficult working environment, Mr Summers suggested, adding: "It was a team that had its issues and she was on the front line trying to manage these disparate groups.”

The lawyer warned the panel of “the danger of mud sticking, in case like this where it is almost relentless.

“If the view is that she was just a rogue sergeant whose mouth ran away with her, could behave as she pleased with impunity, then it maybe that a lot of allegations will gain strength from that conclusion."

The panel is set to give their verdict tomorrow.

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