A former Met Police officer has been found guilty fo gross misconduct
(Picture: Met Police (stock image))A man who visited a sex worker during a Covid-19 lockdown while employed as a Met Police officer has been banned from returning to policing.
In January 2021 Hassan Mahmood, then a constable attached to the force’s South Area Basic Command Unit, visited a woman’s house in Mitcham, south London, when lockdown restrictions were in place and paid her for sex.
He was fined £660 at City of London Magistrates’ Court on February 21, after pleading guilty to participating in a gathering of two or more people in breach of the Health Protection Regulations in a Tier 4 area.
He resigned from the Met in November 2021, but was on Tuesday found to have breached the Met’s standards of professional bahaviour through “discreditable conduct”.
At a gross misconduct hearing, the allegations against him were proven and a panel concluded that if he were still a serving officer, he would have been dismissed from the Met.
He will now be added to the College of Policing’s barred list.
Those appearing on the list cannot be employed by police, local policing bodies (PCCs), the Independent Office for Police Conduct or Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services.
Chief Superintendent Dave Stringer, the commander of local policing in south London, said: “Mahmood’s actions were completely unacceptable and the outcome of this hearing demonstrates that there is no place for such behaviour in the Met.
“The vast majority of officers get into policing to protect the most vulnerable people in society. Mahmood has let down his colleagues and the people of London who put their trust in us to keep them safe.”
