A Metropolitan Police officer who once served at Charing Cross station has been fired after being caught on camera making vile racist comments and boasting about using inappropriate force.
The disturbing footage, secretly recorded for a BBC Panorama investigation, showed Pc Philip Neilson suggesting that an immigrant who had overstayed his visa should be shot. While drinking off-duty, Neilson said, “either put a bullet through his head or deport him,” according to what was heard at a misconduct hearing in south London, reported the Telegraph.
The panel heard that Neilson’s actions breached multiple standards of professional behavior, including respect, equality, and conduct. Commander Jason Prins, chairing the hearing, said the comments amounted to gross misconduct and confirmed Neilson was dismissed without notice.
“It was or must have been obvious to him that the comments made were abhorrent,” Prins said. “The conduct of the officer is a disgrace.”
The Panorama documentary showed Neilson calling Algerians and Somalians “scum” and claiming there was an “invasion” of the UK by migrants. The same footage also revealed other officers making sexist comments about women, mocking a rape complaint, and making anti-Muslim remarks while appearing to brag about excessive force.
James Berry KC, representing the Metropolitan Police, told the hearing that Neilson was filmed outside Charing Cross police station discussing a teenage detainee, referred to as Mr X, who allegedly kicked him in custody. Neilson reportedly told the undercover reporter that he had once trained in sports massage and used pressure points on the detainee “for the whole journey” to the police station, switching legs every 20 seconds.
Neilson later denied using any excessive force, insisting he was assaulted by the detainee and that his remarks were just “a misguided attempt at bravado.” Berry countered that the officer “was glorifying the use of inappropriate force on a restrained detainee” and noted that Neilson was “laughing and smirking throughout.”
The hearing also focused on Neilson’s “floridly racist” comments about Somalians and migrants. In one particularly graphic exchange, he reportedly said, “Either put a bullet through his head or deport him. And the ones that shag women, rape women, you do the cock and let them bleed out.”
Neilson admitted the comments were “inappropriate” but claimed he was drunk after having “eight or nine pints of Guinness.” Berry described the remarks as “abhorrent” and said they suggested “graphic and unlawful violence.”
Defending him, Neilson’s lawyer, Chris Brinsley, argued the officer’s behaviour amounted to misconduct rather than gross misconduct and criticised the undercover operation, calling it “an extraordinary case where the police have been infiltrated by an undercover journalist.”
Neilson told the hearing he believed the covert filming violated his human rights and denied being racist.
The Panorama footage also caught another officer, PC Martin Borg, bragging about a colleague stamping on a detainee’s leg and joking about falsifying a witness statement afterward.
This scandal marks yet another blow to the already tarnished reputation of Charing Cross police station, which was previously rocked in 2022 when an IOPC investigation found officers had shared racist, sexist, and abusive messages between 2016 and 2018.
