A former Metropolitan Police officer has been convicted of sending a grossly offensive racist message.
Former Met officer Michael Chadwell, 62, from Liss, Hampshire, denied one count of sending by public communication a grossly offensive racist message but he was found guilty after a trial at City of London Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
The court heard that on September 28, 2022, Chadwell shared the post with others in a private WhatsApp group with other former Met colleagues.
He forwarded a graphic into the group, which had been created by someone else and shared on social media, showing a picture of different coloured parrots above an image of children of different races.
Text on the images said “Why do we cherish the variety of colour in every species… but our own?”, underneath which a comment in response said “because I have never had a bike stolen out of my front yard by a parrot”.
District Judge Tan Ikram said: “He thought it was funny but it was grossly offensive and he was aware of that at the time, that is why I find the defendant guilty of this offence.”
Chadwell is due to be sentenced at the same court on Monday afternoon, alongside five co-defendants, all also former Met officers, who last month admitted sending grossly offensive racist messages.
