Former Met Police officers from Wales sentenced for racist WhatsApp group messages

Six former Metropolitan Police officers, including two from Wales, have been given suspended sentences after being found guilty of sending grossly offensive racist messages on WhatsApp in a group called 'Old Boys Beer Meet - Wales'. Michael Chadwell, 62, Peter Booth, 66, Anthony Elsom, 67, Trevor Lewton, 65, Alan Hall, 65, and Robert Lewis, 62, were all sentenced to between six and 14 weeks' imprisonment - suspended for 12 months - at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday, for their part in the messages. All six men, who retired between 2001 and 2015, were charged with improper use of a public electronic communications network offence, contrary to the Communications Act 2003.

The charges, which relate to messages shared between September 2020 and 2022, came after a BBC[1] Newsnight investigation in October last year which prompted a probe by the Met's Directorate of Professional Standards. They were all members of the "Old Boys Beer Meet - Wales" group chat, where a number of racist, homophobic and sexist messages were exchanged, the CPS said. More than 60 messages with offensive content were shared between members of the group during the two-year period, including references to the Duchess of Sussex, the late Queen, the late Duke of Edinburgh, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Booth, from Llandeilo, received eight weeks' imprisonment suspended for 12 months and 140 hours of unpaid work. Lewton, from Swansea[4], received six weeks' imprisonment suspended for 12 months and 65 hours of unpaid work. Chadwell, from Liss in Hampshire, was given 10 weeks' imprisonment suspended for 12 months and 100 hours of unpaid work.

Elsom, from Bournemouth, was sentenced to eight weeks' imprisonment suspended for 12 months and 40 hours of unpaid work. Hall, from Stowmarket in Suffolk, was given eight weeks' imprisonment suspended for 12 months and 140 hours of unpaid work. And Lewis, from Camberley in Surrey, was sentenced to 14 weeks' imprisonment suspended for 12 months, 200 hours of unpaid work and 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

He was also sentenced for possessing two friction batons in a private place, contrary to section 141(1A) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, and was fined GBP500. The sentences came after a probe found that inappropriate communications were shared within a closed WhatsApp group between August 2018 and September 2022, the Met said. The six men were not serving at any point during their participation in the group, the force said.

It added that they served in various parts of the Met throughout their careers and all spent time in what is now known as the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command. Adeniyi Ogunleye, senior crown prosecutor at the CPS, said: "It is shocking that six retired police officers who spent their careers upholding the law could think it was acceptable to send these grossly offensive messages. The sentences given today clearly demonstrate that they were not just shocking or disturbing jokes, but grossly offensive messages that amount to criminal behaviour.

This case sends a clear signal that whenever our legal test is met, the CPS will prosecute these offences robustly."

References

1. ^ BBC (www.walesonline.co.uk)
2. ^ Sian Doyle, former S4C chief executive, 'found unresponsive by husband after taking overdose' (www.walesonline.co.uk)
3. ^ Judge tells serial flasher 'nobody wants to see your penis' (www.walesonline.co.uk)
4. ^ Swansea (www.walesonline.co.uk)