‘Vulgar and sexist’ WhatsApp texts ignored by bosses, says ex Met detective

A former Metropolitan Police detective has accused Cressida Dick and Priti Patel of ignoring warnings of ‘vulgar and sexist’ Whatsapp messages in a group chat of Met officers and contractors.

Retired Detective Superintendent Paige Kimberly said she wrote to Cressida Dick and Priti Patel following the death of Sarah Everard, requesting a review into “how inappropriate behaviour is addressed amongst contract workers.”

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is now investigating the conduct of five serving officers and a former Met Police officer over a group chat Sarah Everard murder, Wayne Couzens was in, which involved “misogynistic and racist” messages. This group is different to the one Ms Kimberly was in.

Ms Kimberly is due to be compensated after a tribunal last month ruled that a job offer was withdrawn a day after she reported sexist messages and images on the Whatsapp group to her civilian line manager.

A 2019 internal investigation took no action against the male officers, ruling that the messages were “distasteful” but did not amount to criminality or misconduct.

Ms Kimberly wrote to Ms Dick in March, according to MailOnline, highlighting the “sexist and abusive” messages in a group chat formed by one of the contractors, who was an ex-senior officer.

Ms Kimberley said: “I sent it recorded delivery. I never got a reply. I also wrote to the home secretary, Priti Patel, but did not get a response. It has cost them an awful lot of money to defend this case and they tried to discredit me.”

An employment tribunal heard that Ms Kimberly was working on a team which also consisted of retired male senior officers, a serving constable and a civilian IT specialist.

Ms Kimberly said the Whatsapp group was formed to keep in touch with team members and tackle issues that arose. She added, however, that the group evolved into light-hearted conversation and after leaving the role - but remaining in the group chat - she noticed the chat had evolved further to “become graphic, sexual and derogatory towards women,” the tribunal heard.

She claims her male colleagues were aware she was still in the group but “they continued to publish statements, images and videos which were negative towards or about women” – up to 20 messages a day.

In her statement to the tribunal, Kimberley said: “I was shocked and disappointed by the content of these messages.

“Yet despite their respective responsibilities, and on whose behalf they were working, and being paid reasonably high amounts by the taxpayer, they were still circulating aggressive and inappropriate messages, photographs and videos in a work Whatsapp group, including a graphic image of a diseased vagina, messages calling women slags and disclosing very misogynistic and sexist attitudes towards women.”

Ms Kimberly was invited to return to the role in September 2019, she told the tribunal, but said she couldn’t until the contents of the group chat were addressed. She added that the conduct of the contractors had created a “hostile and offensive environment” for her.

A Met spokesman said: “We are currently assessing the details of the tribunal’s finding. We cannot comment further at this time.”

After the case, Ms Kimberly’s lawyer Terry Falcao said: “This was an important case for Paige as she acted on good faith and with the best motivation to disclose misogynistic and unacceptable sexual conduct from contractors working with a police officer and Met Police staff. This was a protected act.

“The tribunal accepted her version of events, that she disclosed this conduct to a senior manager in the digital policing unit. This resulted in the withdrawal of an offer to earn a significant sum of money.”