A RIOT police instructor who drunkenly lobbed petrol bombs would have been sacked had he not quit, a panel has ruled.
Former PC James Duthoit was part of a group who hurled the Molotov cocktails after a five-week course in riot training centre.
He boozed in a medical hut in Gravesend, , before the high-jinks set off a fire at 2am in 2022.
The blaze caused £10,000 worth of damage.
Duthoit denied wrongdoing, saying: “I’m being made a scapegoat.”;;
But a panel in central found him guilty of gross misconduct.
He will be barred from work but will still receive his .
Panel chairman Commander Jason Prins said: “He tried to blame others for his wrongdoing.
“He was drunk, significant actual damage was caused, and he was training future public order instructors.
“His behaviour was akin to the behaviour of criminal damage and the only outcome had Mr Duthoit been a member of the police service is immediate dismissal from the service.
In a statement in 2023 he denied wrongdoing and said he had no memory of hurling a petrol bomb
He said: “At no stage throughout the evening did I feel that any member of the group was in danger or that the fire was out of control.”;;
“If I thought that was the case, I would have had no difficultly whatsoever in calling the fire brigade.
“I had consumed alcohol, I was also hugely tired after the running of the course.
“I had not anticipated, given the lack of any substances that might ignite, that there would be such a consequence.”;;
He added: “Without there being any evidence, I was considered responsible.
“I feel I am being made a scapegoat, when all I did was try to put the fire out.”;;
