Man arrested over misconduct in public office after ex-police officer accused of racist WhatsApp messages
Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley vows to ‘be ruthless in rooting out corrupting officers’
A man has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, the Metropolitan Police has said, after a BBC investigation alleged that an ex-officer and immigration official had posted racist content on WhatsApp.
Scotland Yard said a man in his 60s had been detained shortly after midday on Thursday and was suspected of committing offences under the Communications Act.
He remains in custody at a south London police station, the force said.
It comes after the Home Office announced it had suspended a member of staff, after a BBC Newsnight probe accused immigration official Rob Lewis of creating a group chat on WhatsApp in which messages reported to contain “the very strongest racial slurs” were allegedly shared.
In a statement following the report, the new Met Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, pledged to “be ruthless in rooting out those corrupting officers and staff, including racists and misogynists, from our organisation”, adding: “They undermine the honest and dedicated majority who determinedly serve the public.”
The WhatsApp group uncovered by the BBC is said to have contained messages relating to the government’s Rwanda policy, recent flooding in Pakistan which killed nearly 1,700 people, and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
The group is alleged to have included several former officers who used to work for the Met’s specialist branch which guards parliament and protects ministers, and many serving officers are claimed to have left following the murder of Sarah Everard last year by Wayne Couzens, who was a member of the same branch.
Couzens, who is serving a whole-life sentence, was found by investigators to have been in WhatsApp groups in which racist, misogynistic and homophobic messages were shared, over which two of his former Met Police colleagues were convicted last month.
The messages in the WhatsApp group uncovered by the BBC this week were passed to the broadcaster by Dave Eden, also a former member of the Met’s Diplomatic Protection Group, who had been part of the WhatsApp group since its creation in 2016.
“The entire undertone is one of racism and misogyny,” said Mr Eden, a police officer of 27 years who retired in 2010.
He told the broadcaster: “This group tells me that the culture of the Metropolitan Police hasn’t changed. And in fairness, it’s not just this group, it’s other groups. It’s what I’m hearing out of the mouths of ex-colleagues. And what I’m witnessing all the time.”
Mr Eden is reported to be preparing a submission of material to the inquiry by former lord advocate of Scotland, Dame Elish Angiolini, set up in the wake of Everard’s murder to understand how an off-duty Metropolitan Police officer was able to abduct, rape and kill a member of the public.
In a statement issued in response to the Newsnight report, the new Met Commissioner said: “I have taken over as the leader of an organisation that has been far too weak in taking on those who undermine the honest and dedicated majority, who determinedly serve the public.
“That will change and I will continue to seek out those, from both within and outside the Met, with that constructive anger who can help us reform.”
Announcing that it had suspended a member of staff, the Home Office said: “We expect the highest standards of our staff and have a zero tolerance approach to anyone displaying racist, homophobic, misogynist or discriminatory behaviour.
“Where we are made aware of such behaviour we will not hesitate to take decisive action.”