Shirley resident Charles Ehikioya, a senior officer in the Metropolitan Police, has been dismissed for gross misconduct over a group chat with a former colleague in which racist, sexist and inappropriate messages were sent and received.
Gross misconduct: the Metropolitan Police has dismissed a senior black officer over the content of WhatsApp messages
Inspector Ehikioya has been the head of the Met’s Black Police Association (MBPA).
A panel sitting at Palestra House in London this week heard evidence that it found amounted to a breach of the standards of professional behaviour.
The matter had been investigated by the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards and referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, and a file of evidence was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service, but they determined that it did not meet the criminal threshold.
At the end of June 2024, Inspector Ehikioya was formally notified of the Met’s intention to hold a misconduct hearing. Prior to the hearing, he claimed that he had never sent or received the messages in question and that they had been fabricated to frame him.
“This prompted a further review of the data that had been extracted from his device, during which specialist officers were able to retrieve thumbnails of some of the images that Inspector Ehikioya claimed he had never sent or received,” according to the Met.
Categorical denial: Charles Ehikioya reading his statement after the hearing
Speaking after the hearing, Ehikioya said he “categorically” denied the allegations and was “dismayed” by the decision. He had argued the claims against him were fabricated due to his race or MBPA position. He intends to appeal.
Met officers had trawled through more than 7,000 messages, sent from Ehikioya’s private phone between 2017 and 2020. The officer was said to have sent and received jokes, pictures and videos in an interchange with a constable under his command, PC Carlo Francisco.
Francisco was in a separate group chat in which Inspector Ehikioya was the subject of racism from colleagues, including references to chains, wicker baskets and cotton-picking, the hearing was told.
Nicholas Yeo, representing Ehikioya, said in his closing argument that the terms were “intrinsically linked” to slavery in the US in the 1800s. “PC Francisco may not have been motivated in a way, in terms of a strict motivation, but it is quite clear that he was part of a vile, racist group that wanted to do the officer [Insp Ehikioya] great harm for no reason other than his race.”
In 2023, Francisco was separately found to have committed gross misconduct over the messages shared in that group, along with seven others.
The Ehikioya hearing outcome report states: “The panel found culpability in this case to be high. Inspector Ehikioya’s actions were intentional and deliberate. Whilst the panel acknowledge that Inspector Ehikioya was exchanging messages with FPC Francisco on his personal mobile phone, most likely when both on and off duty, and did not expect these messages to come into the public domain, he would have undoubtedly been aware that the views that he apparently held and expressed were totally contrary to the principles and policies of the Metropolitan Police Service ethos of a modern police service…
“The public would be shocked and appalled to find that a serving officer of the MPS could hold and express such harmful, detrimental, discriminatory and derogatory views and opinions.”
Later, the outcome report states: “The panel acknowledges that there was no direct harm caused by Inspector Ehikioya’s actions, since FPC Francisco was a willing participant in the exchange.”
And the panel noted: “There have been no previous misconduct findings against Inspector Ehikioya. The panel notes that he has an extremely long-standing service history of over 27 years, during which he has held positions of high rank and acted in a dedicated manner on behalf of fellow serving police officers.
“The panel has received a significant number of highly positive testimonials on his behalf… The officer has shown limited insight, indicating that there is no place within the police service for an officer who engaged in messages of the nature concerned herein. He has not however accepted responsibility and has shown no remorse.”
Ehikioya is the husband of prominent Shirley activist Marzia Nicodemi-Ehikioya, who in the past has been a council election candidate, an official in the local Labour Party and worked for many years as a trustee of the Shirley Community Centre.
Standing outside the tribunal hearing building yesterday afternoon, Ehikioya said: “I believe this outcome was manipulated to ensure a finding against me and is part of a deliberate campaign to smear my reputation.
“The process from the very beginning has been flawed and it is clear to me that this decision is an attempt to silence my voice in the fight against the endemic racism within the MPS.”
He said he was subjected to an “unfair investigation” that had “appeared to seek evidence against me regardless of the truth”.
He added: “This misconduct case is just the latest in a long history of black officers being disproportionately scrutinised and penalised.”
Commander Jason Prins, who chaired the hearing, said the panel had decided the “appropriate and proportionate sanction” was dismissal without notice.
Andy George, the president of the National Black Police Association, criticised “irregularities” in the disciplinary process and the time taken to reach an outcome, noting the allegations stem from 2020, and that others involved had their cases dealt with two years ago.
A Met Police spokesperson said the force is “confident that this was not a case where disproportionality was a factor”, adding the panel found no evidence of this.
“However, we know that its presence in the misconduct system more broadly remains a real concern for officers and staff, particularly those from black or other minority ethnic heritage backgrounds,” they said.
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Why not the charge of misconduct in public office?
When someone is pointing the finger there are always three fingers pointing back at the accuser.
Aggressive tolerance against others to favour themselves and friends. Justice is blind or should be. What impact has such a high rank had on others? I’m Must of been a high bar to cross. Disappointed yet cheered that misconduct and justice is done imho.
Very good to see this despicable disgraced officer dishonourably discharged from the police service. He obviously is one of the horrific individuals that cannot uphold the required standards that the Commissioner has referenced and I am pleased to see them being rooted out and removed.