Charing Cross Police station scandal: Who are the officers caught on camera?

Met Police officers called for immigrants to be shot, bragged about using violence against suspects and dismissed a woman’s rape allegations, a damning undercover investigation has found.

Footage gathered undercover for a Panorama documentary shows one officer, PC Phil Neilson, while off duty referring to an immigrant who had overstayed his visa. He says: ‘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.’

While off duty drinking at a pub, he also tells the undercover reporter Rory Bibb that Algerians and Somalians are ‘scum’, and makes reference to there being an invasion of the UK by migrants.

‘I think any foreign person is the worst to deal with,’ he said.

‘I’ve seen too many Islamics (sic) committing crimes. Their way of life is not the correct way of life.

‘You do find that the ones that are causing the most crime are Muslim.’

PC Martin Borg brags about a colleague stamping on a detainee’s leg, and laughs about the suspect screaming.

He also appears to say he offered to fill in a false witness statement about the incident.

PC Borg was filmed saying that Muslims ‘hate us’, and that ‘Islam is a problem’.

In a separate incident, Sergeant Joe McIlvenny makes comments about a woman who has been arrested while wearing a fancy dress police outfit.

He also made offensive sexualised comments about a woman he had met online, and turned conversations to sex while at work, and appeared to dismiss a victim’s claim that her abusive partner had kicked her in the stomach while pregnant, and another who alleged they had been raped.

One clip shows a detention officer talking to a PC about a man in custody accused of rape and domestic abuse.

Speaking to McIlvenny, who authorised the suspect’s release on bail, the detention officer says, ‘he’s a nasty piece of work apparently’, adding that the man’s victim was pregnant and he ‘tried to kill the baby’ by stamping on her stomach.

McIlvenny simply replies: ‘That’s what she says.’

The female detention officer is then seen venting to the undercover reporter about the encounter, saying: ‘The way he went “Yeah, it’s what she says”… he f***ing stamped on her stomach while she’s pregnant.

‘Like, don’t. F*** off. I’d like to turn around and go, “You w***er. You’re a w***er.” But unfortunately, I can’t, he’s got stripes on his shoulders.’

Watching the footage, former Nottinghamshire Police chief constable Sue Fish remarks that the detention officer ‘isn’t wrong in her description of [McIlvenny] quite frankly.’

Others were filmed bragging about breaking people’s fingers, and one who repeatedly hit a detainee on the back of the legs with his baton.

Nine serving and one former officer, and one designated detention officer who is a civilian member of staff, are all under investigation for gross misconduct by watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

Allegations include excessive use of force, making discriminatory and misogynistic comments, and failing to report or challenge inappropriate behaviour.

One constable is facing a criminal investigation for allegedly perverting the course of justice.

Full details of what they are accused of are emerging now that the Panorama documentary has been made available to view online.

Another incident showed a 17-year-old autistic teenager being restrained by up to eight officers for throwing a pillow and then being held on the floor for two hours.

Mr Neilson told the undercover Panorama reporter that he had tormented the suspect by pushing on pressure points on his body while in a police van.

The Prime Minister has described the behaviour of Metropolitan Police officers who were secretly filmed making racist and sexist comments as ‘shocking’.

Reacting to the documentary, Sir Keir Starmer said: ‘I’ve not yet seen the footage, but I’ve had it described to me, and it’s shocking, and I’m glad the commissioner is responding.

‘He needs to be very robust in his response.’

Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said people in London can trust the ‘vast majority’ of the force’s officers, adding that he was ‘horrified’ by the documentary.

He described the officers’ behaviour as ‘ghastly’ and ‘reprehensible’.

Sir Mark told LBC radio: ‘It’s ghastly, it’s reprehensible. Clearly there’s racism in there, there’s misogyny, there’s clearly relishing in using excess force.

‘It’s completely unacceptable and I’m sure members of the public watching it will be upset and angry, as we are.

‘We’ve been pressing the BBC for the footage, which they wouldn’t give us before last night.

‘Frankly some of the content from last night on its own, in my mind, would be enough to bring officers to fast-track misconduct hearings.’

Sir Mark took up the post three years ago tasked with cleaning up the force at arguably one of the most troubled times in its history.

He vowed to kick wrongdoers out of the Met in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer, and another being unmasked as a serial rapist who targeted victims over nearly 20 years.

Earlier this month the force said it was using ‘Al Capone’ style tactics to root out wrongdoers and break-up cliques within the ranks.

Separate, earlier allegations linked to Charing Cross police station led to Sir Mark’s predecessor, Dame Cressida Dick, leaving her job, after London mayor Sadiq Khan said he could no longer support her.

A 2022 report by the IOPC found officers had exchanged highly offensive messages, including repeated jokes about rape, domestic violence and violent racism, as well as homophobic language and derogatory terms for disabled people.

The IOPC took the unusual step of publishing the messages in full and said the behaviour it had uncovered was ‘disgraceful’.

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