A Metropolitan Police constable has been dismissed for “gross misconduct”, following an incident in 2011 in a police van in Newham, London, in which he told an arrested black man, “the problem with you is that you will always be a n***er.”
The incident was secretly recorded by the arrested man, 21-year old Mauro Demetrio, on his mobile phone and later given to the Guardian. The incident took place during the 2011 August riots.
In the recording, a police officer can be heard admitting he strangled Demetrio because he was “a c*nt.” Moments later, another officer – identified as PC Alex MacFarlane – subjects the man to a barrage of racist slurs before adding: “You’ll always have black skin. Don’t hide behind your colour.”
MacFarlane, 53, an officer for 18 years with a previously clean record, had twice faced trial for the incident, but both juries had been unable to reach a verdict. A judge dismissed the case last October.
However, on 3 July Scotland Yard said it had now sacked the officer.
Commander Alan Gibson, director of the Met complaints department, said: “PC MacFarlane, as a trained officer, was expected to behave professionally even in the face of provocation. His breaches of our standards of professional behaviour were judged so serious that dismissal was the only appropriate outcome in this case.”
