Bruce Thain,
Kathryn Armstrongand
Amy Walker
BBC
Three Metropolitan Police officers have been sacked for gross misconduct after appearing in an undercover report by BBC Panorama.
Sgt Joe McIlvenny, PC Philip Neilson and PC Martin Borg faced expedited misconduct hearings on Thursday over secret filming aired in the programme. They denied allegations of gross misconduct but accepted they made the comments aired in the programme.
Allegations against all three were upheld during the hearings, and all were dismissed with immediate effect.
They are the first of 10 current or former officers to face hearings as part of the Met’s accelerated misconduct proceedings over footage from the investigation.
Chair of the panel, Cdr Jason Prins, described the conduct of all three officers as a “disgrace”.
He said it “must have been obvious” to them that “the comments made were abhorrent.”
He added that Mr McIlvenny’s conduct was “exacerbated as he was a Police Sergeant and in a leadership position”.
In a statement following the hearings, Met Police professionalism Cdr Simon Messinger, said the force had upheld a promise to hold misconduct hearings “at the earliest opportunity”.
“We have since replaced the custody team at Charing Cross, made changes to local leadership and wider work continues to identify any other areas of concern in detention teams across the Met.”
Sgt McIlvenny heard describing sexual encounters to colleagues
Sgt Joe McIlvenny had been serving with the Met Police for nearly 20 years when he was secretly recorded being dismissive about a pregnant woman’s allegation of rape and domestic violence against her partner.
When a detention officer questioned a decision to release the man on bail alleged to have raped the woman, she said he had also been accused of kicking her in the stomach. PS McIlvenny was recorded replying: “That’s what she says.”
BBC Panorama also filmed the sergeant making misogynistic comments while wor
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