Serving Police Officer dismissed without notice after gross misconduct

His former colleague has already resigned.

A serving Dorset Police officer who was found guilty of gross misconduct after posting inappropriate and offensive messages on a WhatsApp group has been dismissed without notice.

PC Mark Jordan-Gill and former officer Paul Perdrisat (who has already resigned) were found to have breached the standards of professional behaviour following a public misconduct hearing that concluded on Friday 2 June 2023.

They returned on Tuesday 13 June 2023 where the panel delivered the sanctions. Both will be placed on the barred list administered by the College of Policing, which means they must not be employed or appointed into policing.

The misconduct hearing heard that allegations were received by the Force’s Professional Standards Department in July and August 2022 about alleged incidents of bullying and discriminatory conduct by the officers, who were serving at the time with the Force Support Group (FSG) in Bournemouth.

The panel ruled that the contents of the WhatsApp group contained sexual, pornographic, misogynistic, homophobic, racist, bullying, abusive, offensive and inappropriate messages, but found insufficient evidence of the officers making verbal racist or homophobic comments in the presence of other officers. It also did not find evidence that wall art, which was alleged to have been placed in the office but was never recovered, was offensive.

The panel found that PC Jordan-Gill did post inappropriate and offensive messages on the WhatsApp group and did not leave the group even though he was more than likely aware of sexual, pornographic, misogynistic, homophobic, racist, bullying, abusive, offensive, and otherwise inappropriate images and messages being posted.

It also found that Mr Perdrisat was a ‘major contributor’ of the offensive messages and images that were found to be racist, misogynistic, homophobic and offensive.

Inspector Nicholas Mantle, who was also found guilty of gross misconduct, will return on a future date for the panel to determine the sanction. Serving officers PC Michael Lowther and PC Matthew Young were found guilty of misconduct. PC Lowther, who challenged the behaviour on the WhatsApp group and left the group, was handed a written warning and PC Young was issued with a final written warning. He admitted failing to challenge the other officers but had extremely limited participation in the group.