After reports of AirDrop sexual messages to passengers on a train and sending an unwelcome sexually explicit personal image to a female colleague, a former cop PC Luke Stokeswould have been let go.
If he were still serving, a three-day misconduct hearing starting on Monday, 22 April and ending with the Legally Qualified Chair deciding former PC Luke Stokes, previously linked to the Met’s MO6 public order planning, would have been fired without notice.
Former PC Stokes was found to have violated professional standards regarding:
- Discreditable conduct
- Honesty and integrity
- Duties and responsibilities
- Authority, respect and courtesy
After a passenger claimed the former officer had written a sexually explicit note over AirDrop while on a C2C train on April 9, 2022, police from the British Transport Police detained him on April 13, 2022.
The former officer had done a factory reset on his phone, discovered during his interrogation with BTP detectives.
BTP looked at the incident; in November 2022, a file was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service. The CPS decided that no more criminal action would be taken and that it fell short of the required level to launch a prosecution.
Following the revelation of this incident, a female colleague claimed that former officer Luke Stokes had given her unwelcome sexually explicit personal images in 2020. May 2022 saw a voluntary interview conducted under careful observation. Once established, the matter fell short of the evidence level required for criminal charges to be issued, and no more action was taken.
In March 2024, former officer Luke Stokes left the Met.
He will thereby be included in the College of Policing’s Barred List. Police, local policing authorities (PCCs), the Independent Office for Police Conduct or His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services cannot employ those shown on the list.
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