A high-flying Scotland Yard officer who was allowed to keep his job despite using prostitutes has a key role helping recruit women to the force, the Standard can reveal.
Payments of hundreds of pounds to sex workers were uncovered when anti-corruption officers from the Met’s Professional Standards unit seized his phone over an unrelated matter, which was later dropped.
Instead of going before a gross misconduct board where he could have been sacked, the middle-aged officer was instead given “words of advice”, the lowest form of censure.
He kept his job in 2019 after agreeing to undergo treatment for sex addiction.
The Standard can reveal that the officer now works on a project set up to help restore the Met’s reputation by encouraging under-represented groups, including women, to become police officers and Scotland Yard staff.
The project holds public recruitment events and offers support for potential recruits with training and applications.
The Metropolitan Police declined to comment on whether the policing leader on more than £100,000 a year will remain in his current role.
Critics say the punishment he received is in contrast to how junior officers are routinely sacked if found to be using prostitutes.
Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley admitted last week the Met had missed a government recruitment target partly because of its “reputation at the moment” following a wave of scandals which sent public trust plummeting.
It comes just weeks after Baroness Louise Casey’s review, ordered in the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder by PC Wayne Couzens, found the Met to be institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic.
The Casey review prompted Yard chief Sir Mark to call for more power to sack hundreds of officers who are not fit to serve.
Ex-Chief Superintendent Phil Flower told the Daily Mail: “It is extremely surprising that a more robust decision was not taken in this matter.
“It should have gone to a misconduct board which, if properly informed, would have imposed a much more significant penalty.”
The Yard said in line with national policy, it will only identify officers subject of misconduct complaints when they proceed to a formal public hearing.
A spokesman added: “The Met expects the highest standards. Officers must not behave in a way that will discredit the police and undermine the public’s confidence in us.
“Police play a key role in protecting sex workers, both men and women, from physical and sexual violence, coercion, control and exploitation.
“Alongside work being undertaken on a national level, the Met is finalising expectations of our workforce in this area.”
