Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Miriam Burrell

Met officer sacked for making racist comments to colleague while off duty

A Metropolitan Police officer has been sacked from the force without notice for making racist comments towards a colleague after a social event.

Former PC Luke Hunt, based within the North East Command Unit, made the discriminatory comments while off duty on January 27 last year, a misconduct hearing which ended on Wednesday found.

After three days of evidence, the chair found PC Hunt had breached the standards of professional behaviour amounting to gross misconduct and he was dismissed.

His conduct amounted to breaches of the standards of professional behaviour, in respect of authority, respect and courtesy, discreditable conduct and equality and diversity, the Met said on Friday.

Chief Superintendent Simon Crick, of the North East Command Unit, said: "We expect all of our officers to uphold our high standards of behaviour, when they are both on and off-duty. We have also made it very clear that there is no place for racism in the Met.

"We do not accept conduct of this nature which undermines confidence in our organisation and so it is only right that PC Hunt has been dismissed."

It comes just days after former Met officer Michael Chadwell was convicted of sending a grossly offensive racist message over Whats App.

The 62-year-old, from Liss, Hampshire, posted an image in a private WhatsApp group, comprised of retired Met officers, on September 28 2022, the court heard.

In August a former Met officer Thomas Phillips, 34, was jailed after using the n-word in a series of WhatsApps to his former partner Samantha Ryan, a serving police officer, when referring to her new boyfriend who is also serving in the police.

Last month Olympic sprinter Riacardo Dos Santos said he and his partner Bianca Williams were subject to "racist stereotypes" after former Met PC Jonathan Clapham and PC Sam Franks were found to have committed gross misconduct over the stop-and-search of both black athletes.

In March a report by Baroness Dame Louise Casey said the public of London is being failed by an institutionally sexist, racist and homophobic Met riddled with bullying, poor leadership and the “rotten” treatment of black people.

Baroness Dame Louise Casey said that the protection of women had also been “thrown out of the window” as she denounced a catalogue of failings at Scotland Yard infecting every level of the force.

Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has repeatedly refused to use the word “institutional” when describing the issues of racism, sexism and homophobia in his force.

Sir Mark said he was content to use the word “systemic” to describe the Met’s problems, but that “institutional” was a politicised word with an “ambiguous” range of meanings.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.