Racist remark: Met Police officer sacked

A Metropolitan Police officer has been dismissed without notice after gross misconduct was proven at a disciplinary hearing, a statement from the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has said. 

• PC Harry Chandler, based at a North East Borough Command police station, was sacked following an investigation by IOPC.
• Chandler faced allegations that he used a racial remark in a WhatsApp text exchange with another police constable regarding which area of London to live in.
• The two-day hearing, which concluded on Friday (17), was told the officer used the P-word while discussing renting a flat.

The independently chaired disciplinary panel has found that PC Chandler had breached the standards of professional behaviour relating to equality and diversity and discreditable conduct. The officer admitted the allegation and will also be placed on the barred list preventing him from future employment within the police service.

Regional Director Graham Beesley said: “PC Chandler’s offensive use of language in his WhatsApp messages came to light while we investigated the photographs taken at the scene of Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry’s murders by former Met officers Jamie Lewis and Deniz Jaffer.

“His dismissal sends a clear message that the use of offensive language, whether on or off duty, is wholly unacceptable.”

Messages from PC Chandler were found on a phone belonging to former officer Lewis during the initial investigation into the sharing of the crime scene photographs.

The IOPC then received a separate referral from the MPS on 24 July 2020 and completed the investigation in May 2021. Lewis’s failure to challenge the messages was among the allegations put to a recent accelerated hearing organised by the MPS when he was dismissed from the force, following his conviction for misconduct in public office.

According to the statement, IOPC investigators obtained the account of Chandler, analysed WhatsApp messages and obtained witness statements.