Metropolitan Police dismiss another Charing Cross officer over misogynistic conduct

Officer dismissed without notice

London’s Metropolitan Police have dismissed PC Mason O’Connor after a disciplinary panel found that his conduct breached professional standards. The case arose from a broader investigation launched after undercover BBC Panorama filming exposed misogynistic, racist and violent remarks among personnel connected with Charing Cross police station. O’Connor is the thirteenth serving Met officer dismissed in relation to that investigation, according to the Guardian.

The panel considered a remark O’Connor made to a female colleague while off duty in a pub in October 2024. The finding covered discreditable conduct and failures involving equality, diversity, authority, respect and courtesy. His dismissal took immediate effect, and he will be barred from returning to policing. The disciplinary result concerns professional misconduct; the cited sources do not report a separate criminal conviction arising from the remark.

Consequences of the undercover investigation

Panorama’s programme was broadcast in October 2025 after seven months of undercover recording. The footage included officers advocating violence against immigrants and speaking approvingly about force against suspects. The broadcast prompted a wider evidence review and accelerated misconduct procedures where authorities considered the available material clear enough to justify a faster hearing.

The case is not finished. The Independent Office for Police Conduct said investigations were continuing into 15 other officers or police staff, including material supplied by the BBC that was not shown in the programme. A separate gross-misconduct hearing involving a detention officer and comments about people held in custody was scheduled for later in September.

A wider test of police accountability

The dismissal lands during a national review of England and Wales’s police-accountability system. The Home Office announced that review in July, asking Dame Lynne Owens and Jason Beer KC to examine delays, procedural barriers and the balance between prompt justice for complainants and fair treatment for officers. The government described faster and more effective misconduct decisions as necessary for public confidence.

The Charing Cross proceedings will test whether accelerated hearings can produce timely outcomes without narrowing the continuing investigation. Attention will now turn to the remaining cases, the evidence not included in the original broadcast and whether the Met converts individual sanctions into durable changes in supervision and workplace culture. The number of dismissals demonstrates substantial disciplinary consequences, but it does not by itself establish that the institutional problems exposed by the investigation have been resolved.