A Metropolitan Police officer who worked at Charing Cross police station has been sacked after he was secretly filmed making “floridly racist” comments and “glorifying the use of inappropriate force”.
Damning footage, gathered undercover for a BBC Panorama documentary, appears to show Pc Philip Neilson suggest an immigrant who had overstayed his visa should be shot. He said while off-duty “either put a bullet through his head or deport him”, a hearing in south London was told on Thursday.
Pc Neilson breached the standards of professional behaviour in respect of authority, respect and courtesy; discreditable conduct; and equality and diversity, the hearing was told.
Chairman of the hearing, Commander Jason Prins, said he was satisfied the breaches of conduct amounted to gross misconduct and Pc Neilson was dismissed without notice.
“It was or must have been obvious to him that the comments made were abhorrent,” Mr Prins said. “The conduct of the officer is a disgrace.”
The Panorama footage shows the officer, tell undercover reporter Rory Bibb while drinking at a pub off-duty, that Algerians and Somalians are “scum”, and makes reference to there being an invasion of the UK by migrants.
The filming also uncovered officers making sexualised comments about women, being dismissive about a rape complaint, making anti-Muslim remarks and appearing to boast about the use of excessive force.
The first allegation was described by James Berry KC, on behalf of the appropriate authority, who said the programme appears to show Pc Neilson in a conversation outside Charing Cross police station saying that a juvenile, referred to as Mr X, had kicked him in custody.
The undercover reporter had been told Pc Neilson had “done sports massage” before he joined the police and that while he was in the van on the way to custody he was “on pressure points”, Mr Berry added.
The footage then shows him go into further detail in the pub, Mr Berry said, adding: “He said he applied pressure points to Mr X for the whole journey… alternating between legs after 20 seconds because you become immune to it.”
However, the officer denied using any inappropriate force on the detainee and said he had been assaulted by him.
Mr Berry added that the officer said the pressure point comments were a “misguided attempt at bravado.”
He said: “He was showing off with an… exaggerated story about the use of force.
“He was glorifying the use of inappropriate force on a restrained detainee, whether or not the force was in fact used.”
Mr Berry added that Pc Neilson was “laughing and smirking throughout”.
The second allegation involved the officer describing Somalians as “scum”, and making reference to there being an invasion of the UK by migrants, which Mr Berry said were “floridly racist”.
The third allegation involves Panorama footage showing Pc Neilson referring to an immigrant who had overstayed his visa while off-duty, saying: “Either put a bullet through his head or deport him.
“And the ones that shag women, rape women, you do the cock and let them bleed out.”
The officer accepts these remarks were inappropriate, and were made as he was intoxicated after having eight or nine pints of Guinness.
Mr Berry said the comments that suggest “graphic and unlawful violence” should be used are “abhorrent”.
Pc Neilson accepts that comments were said but says it is misconduct only, Chris Brinsley said on his behalf.
Giving evidence to the hearing, the officer was asked if he believes the undercover reporting breaches his human rights. He replied : “I do… he was the one bringing up the conversations.”
When asked what he would say about the appropriate authority’s case that he is racist, he said: “I’m not.”
Mr Brinsley said it is an “extraordinary case where the police have been infiltrated by an undercover journalist”.
In another exchange in the BBC footage, PC Martin Borg bragged about a colleague stamping on a detainee’s leg and laughed about the suspect screaming. He also appeared to discuss falsifying a witness statement about the incident.
The scandal is the second to hit the central London police station after a string of shocking messages exchanged by officers at the same police station were exposed in 2022.
Officers at Charing Cross were found by the IOPC to have joked about rape and domestic abuse, and made racist comments in messages exchanged by officers between 2016 and 2018.
