A guard at Buckingham Palace has been fired after losing a bullet while on patrol and then lying about it, the New York Post reported. Royal Protection Officer Stephen Cotgreave said he feels "stupid, ashamed, and embarrassed."
Cotgreave was on patrol at the palace garden on Dec. 6, 2022, when he dropped the magazine from his pistol. One of the bullets fell out, and the armed guard, unaware of what had happened, failed to retrieve it.
The blunder became apparent when he brought the weapon back to the armory at the end of his shift. Rather than admitting his mistake, the 24-year law enforcement veteran insisted that he had no idea what happened to it.
This forced officials to search for the missing bullet because it posed a risk to the royal family. Surveillance footage caught the incident, and Cotgreave later faced a disciplinary inquiry.
Cotgreave's bullet remained lost for eight days until it was found in the area where the 48-year-old had dropped the magazine to his weapon. It was then that he decided it was time to come clean and tell the truth.
Cotgreave, who had an impeccable record before this incident, called the initial lie a "moment of madness." However, the disciplinary panel was not convinced.
"We find the culpability in this matter to be high as there was a deliberate course of conduct by the officer which posed a risk to the welfare of the public and the royal household," the panel chairman Harry Ireland KC said, according to the BBC. They ruled that Cotgreave was to be dismissed immediately, and he was fired on Friday.
The panel said Cotgreave's actions were an "abuse of trust, particularly as working in the royal household" because he thought that "concealing wrongdoing for eight days and lying to fellow officers on three occasions" was the solution. Cotgreave's reluctance to tell the truth put lives at risk.
"As a result of PC Cotgreave's short round, all the magazines were emptied, and a thorough account was conducted, and the loading bay was searched," Metropolitan Police spokesperson Unyime Davies said. Coincidentally, the bullet went missing on the same day that the King had an egg thrown at him in Luton, Bedfordshire.
This development comes on the heels of a burglary at Windsor Castle, home to Prince William, his wife Kate, and their three children, The New York Times reported. Intruders stole two vehicles after successfully breaking into a building on the estate's grounds on Oct. 13.
"Offenders entered a farm building and made off with a black Isuzu pickup and a red quad bike. No arrests have been made at this stage and an investigation is ongoing," a spokesperson for the Thames Valley Police said.
The thieves scaled a fence to access the property where they could steal the vehicles used on the estate's farm. They escaped with the vehicles by crashing them through a fence.
Nobody was hurt in the incident, but it is believed that the royal family was home when it happened. The family has spent considerable time at Windsor Castle as of late while Kate was recovering from cancer.
The royal family must always be protected from such threats that are likely a constant concern. Unfortunately, it seems those charged with doing so have fallen short, and these are just the incidents the public is aware of.
