Dorset Police inspector sacked and banned from policing for life for posting offensive messages on a WhatsApp group which contained pornographic, homophobic, racist and bullying messages

A SERVING police inspector has been sacked for breaching standards after posting on a force-wide WhatsApp group which contained pornographic, homophobic, racist and bullying messages.

Insp. Nicholas Mantle was banned from the profession for life at a hearing led by an independent panel this week, having previously been found guilty of gross misconduct at an earlier tribunal.

Dorset Police said in a statement he was "not the type of leader" they wanted in the force and added the actions of all officers involved had “let our communities down”.

An investigation into the WhatsApp group began last year after a whistleblower alerted senior officers.

The panel found it contained sexual, pornographic, misogynistic, homophobic, racist, bullying, abusive, offensive and inappropriate messages.

As the officer in charge of the unit, Insp. Mantle should have taken action against those involved in the team chat, but instead the panel found he was not only a member of it but had posted two offensive messages.

It also found that he failed to “treat members of the public and colleagues with respect and/or courtesy”.

Insp. Mantle, who was then a sergeant, breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour concerning equality and diversity by posting one message and failing to challenge derogatory and offensive behaviour of others he supervised, the panel ruled.

Speaking after the hearing, temporary deputy chief constable Rachel Farrell, Dorset Police lead for professional standards, said: “We want to thank colleagues in our Counter Corruption Unit for the detailed and thorough investigation they presented to the panel, which enabled them to make the decision they have.

“Inspector Nicholas Mantle was in a trusted supervisory role when he breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour by not only failing to challenge the derogatory and biased actions of colleagues within the team, but also encouraged it by posting two offensive images to the group.

“His lack of action in failing to challenge this behaviour and failing to act when PC Lowther called it out is completely unacceptable. This is not the type of leader we wish to have in our force and, as this case has shown, we will robustly investigate offences and, if appropriate, remove individuals from the organisation.”

Mantle was one of four officers and one former officer who were part of the Force Support Group (FSG) who exchanged inappropriate messages.

As reported in the A&T, in June PC Mark Jordan-Gill was also dismissed with immediate effect and former officer Paul Perdrisat was told he would have been dismissed had he not already resigned. Both had been found guilty of gross misconduct.

PC Michael Lowther, who challenged the behaviour on the WhatsApp group and left the chat, and PC Matthew Young, were both found guilty of misconduct.

Both received written warnings.

Deputy Ch. Cons. Farrell added: “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 know the actions of these officers will have let our communities down.

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

“We are committed to driving up standards of behaviour within Dorset and ongoing work includes adopting learning across the organisation from this case to stamp out such behaviour, delivering inclusion training to officers and staff, and ensuring our vetting and enhanced vetting obligations are being met and fit for purpose.”

Concerns over conduct can be reported to Dorset Police by calling 101 or emailing countercorruptionunit.dorset@dorset.pnn.police.uk