Officer committed misconduct over mushroom foraging report

A police officer involved in a controversy sparked by the threat of a woman for mushroom foraging has been found to have committed gross misconduct. Louise Gathering moved from Derby to Bradgate Park, Leicestershire, in search of magpie inkcaps, a rare form of fungus. The 39-year-old told the BBC that she did not pick any mushrooms, but that despite this, former PC Christopher Vickers later visited her house and issued a community resolution order. However, the misconduct committee found that the paperwork was issued to her husband and then lied when upgrading a public police database, claiming to have spoken directly to Mrs Gather.

He may have been fired as a result of the offence, according to the misconduct committee, if he hadn't yet left the service. Mr Vickers' behavior had been found to be dishonest, deliberate, and had the ability to jeopardize police morale, according to the report. Following the hearing, Leicestershire Police said the investigation may have caused Mrs Gather serious harm.

She may have lost her career if the CR [community resolution] had been retained on her enhanced DBS checks,

the report stated. Community resolution orders are an informal deal between a complainant and a suspected criminal. For one to be valid, the suspected perpetrator should be confronted specifically, accept responsibility, and sign the required paperwork. Mr Vickers did not follow this policy when issuing the resolution, according to the report. Mrs Gathering said the order included instructions not to remove items from the park in the future and investigating Bradgate Park's status as a designated site of special scientific interest (SSSI). Picking mushrooms is unlawful in places of special scientific interest, which are protected areas of land or water.

Mrs Gathering had said at the time of the shooting that the Leicestershire Police's behaviour had been a bit unnecessary - but that was not investigated by the misconduct committee. The hearing, which took place on October 29, 2025, was told by Bradgate Park Trust that the department received a call from Bradgate park Trust regarding a woman who was picking mushrooms at their park in Leicester on 8 November 2024. Mr Vickers went to her home address and told her husband that he would publish a community resolution, a formal deal between a complainant and an accused perpetrator. Before the officer left, her husband signed the required paperwork.

Mr Vickers then submitted an on a police device claiming that he had spoken to Mrs Gathering, that she had admitted to the offence and that she was given the community resolution. The former officer retaliated his conduct but said he was planning to call Mrs Gathering but had forgotten. Mr Vickers knew his activities were not in accordance with police policy and were undertaken for his own convenience and not to avoid what he perceived to be unnecessary work, according to the committee's conclusion. Following the misconduct hearing, Mrs Gather told the BBC:

I did not personally initiate or pursue a lawsuit against the officer.

After the news was picked up by the media, the profession standards department ordered my version of events when they learned that the officer had committed a felony on my resume without evidence or ever speaking to me.