Dorset Police officer who sent offensive and sexist messages on WhatsApp group to collegues is sacked

A serving Dorset Police officer who was found guilty of gross misconduct after posting inappropriate and offensive messages on a WhatsApp group has been sacked.

PC Mark Jordan-Gill who served with the Force Support Group (FSG) which covers Christchurch among other areas of Dorset, had posted comments which were sexual, pornographic, misogynistic, homophobic, racist, bullying and abusive.

At the sentencing of a misconduct hearing, he was dismissed from the force. A former colleague, Paul Perdrisat, who was also found guilty of the same, was told by the panel that he would have been sacked too had he not already resigned.

Both were found to have breached the standards of professional behaviour following a public misconduct hearing which concluded on 2nd June.

This week the panel reformed to deliver the sentences for Jordan-Gill and Perdrisat.

The misconduct hearing heard that allegations were received by the Force’s Professional Standards Department in July and August last year about alleged incidents of bullying and discriminatory conduct by the officers, who were serving at the time with the FSG.

It heard that the contents of the WhatsApp group found that although it found inappropriate messages, there was insufficient evidence to find the officers had also made verbal racist or homophobic comments as alleged by a colleague.

It also did not find evidence that wall art – in the form of a Secret Santa calendar which was alleged to have been placed in the office but was never recovered – was offensive.

The panel did rule that Mr Perdrisat was a ‘major contributor’ to the offensive messages and images on the group.

Inspector Nicholas Mantle, who was also found guilty of gross misconduct at the hearing, will return on a future date for the panel to determine the sanction.

Serving officers PC Michael Lowther and PC Matthew Young were found guilty of misconduct. PC Lowther, who challenged the behaviour on the WhatsApp group and left the group, was handed a written warning.

PC Young was issued with a final written warning. He admitted failing to challenge the other officers but had extremely limited participation in the group.

Following the hearing, Deputy Chief Constable Sam de Reya, Dorset Police’s lead for professional standards, said: “The public quite rightly expect the highest standards of behaviour from serving police officers and staff as this is a core component of maintaining the trust of our communities.

"I am disappointed and appalled, as would any member of the public be, that former officer Paul Perdrisat would have shared images of a racist, misogynistic, homophobic and offensive nature.

“Dorset Police is here to serve and protect our communities and it is the expectation that our people should reflect the very best of society.

“PC Jordan-Gill and former officer Paul Perdrisat failed to adhere to these high standards and they have let us all down. It is absolutely right they are no longer able to work in policing.

“Any behaviour demonstrating traits of prejudice/negative bias against a person will simply not be tolerated in our organisation and, as this case has demonstrated, we will swiftly and robustly investigate any offences reported to us.

“Dorset Police is an organisation that respects equality, diversity and inclusion and expects this to be a critical value of all its staff. There is no place for any kind of hate behaviour within our Force and any member of staff failing to uphold the highest standards of behaviour, on or off duty, will be subject to investigation and, if appropriate, will no longer be a part of the Force.

“I would like to remind our communities that this behaviour is not indicative of the overwhelming majority of our staff and teams out delivering quality policing every day to protect the public and make Dorset a safe county for everyone. “