Henry Hicks died in a moped crash after being followed by two unmarked police cars in December 2014

THE family of a young man who died in a crash while being followed by police told a misconduct hearing this week that officers had unfairly clashed with him before.

PC Buffy Pearce, who worked as a St Mary’s ward Safer Neighbourhoods officer, is alleged to have thrown Henry Hicks’s hoodie sweatshirt into a bin before an exchange at a park in the summer of 2012.

The officer denies the incident ever took place and says she is being made a “scapegoat” by the family.

Henry, a popular Angel teenager, died when he crashed his moped in Wheelwright Street, next to Pentonville Prison, after being followed by two unmarked police cars in December 2014.

A three-person panel at the Empress State Building in Earl’s Court cleared PC Pearce of gross misconduct on Friday after concluding that the allegations could not be proven.

John Bassett, a barrister representing the Met police at the hearing, said PC Pearce was accused of having thrown the hoodie in a bin as the then 16-year-old played football in Milner Square, off Upper Street, with five friends.

In his opening remarks on Tuesday, Mr Bassett told the hearing that the principal witness to the incident was Henry’s sister Claudia.

He said: “She [Claudia] says that on the day in question she was in the park in Milner Square when her brother was playing football.

“She says PC Pearce was winding her brother up and said: ‘You’re a fat bastard. You should give up playing football.’ That didn’t provoke a reaction from Henry Hicks so the officer picked up a jumper and the officer ran out with it. Henry Hicks followed and asked what she had done. She said: ‘I’ve thrown it in the bin with the shitty nappies. Get it out if you want it.’”

Mr Bassett said PC Pearce was accused of calling Claudia Hicks a “little slag” after she rushed to her brother’s defence.

Ms Hicks, alongside her parents David and Dionne, gave evidence at the hearing chaired by Christopher McKay.

When questioned by Neil Saunders, barrister representing PC Pearce, Dionne Hicks told the hearing that such “bullying” was a “regular occurrence” between Islington police and her children.

She said: “I know you’re not going to believe us. You don’t believe anything we say.”

PC Pearce, an officer for 15 years, said that she had been made a “scapegoat” by the Hicks family after their son died.

She told the hearing on Monday: “I want to be absolutely clear. I haven’t done anything to him.”

Two other police officers alleged to have been at Milner Square when it is claimed PC Pearce binned the hoodie denied the incident took place and said they did not patrol the ward with each other.