Met inspector 'joked about Chinese people' in chat

The head of Metropolitan Police's Black Police Association (MBPA) joked about Chinese people and received a video mocking Katie Price's disabled son Harvey, a misconduct hearing was told.

Insp Charles Ehikioya is accused of being in a chat with former officer Carlo Francisco where racist, misogynistic, homophobic and pornographic messages were sent.

The officer who is the full-time chair of the MBPA is currently on restricted duties.

He denies the claims and says the messages were either fabricated or falsely attributed to him because of his race or position at the MBPA, the hearing was told.

More than 7,000 messages between 2017 and 2020 were sent and Insp Ehikioya allegedly sent and received jokes, pictures and videos described by James Berry, representing the Met, as "disgraceful" and inappropriate.

He is also accused of failing to report the inappropriate messages.

A hearing on Tuesday at Palestra House in London heard that Insp Ehikioya sent a an image of the late Playboy founder Hugh Hefner with the comment "message from the other side, tell the Muslims there's no 72 virgins left".

There was a "sexist" image of the Back To The Future film poster amended to say "Back To The Kitchen" above the message "International Women's Day is over" in the chatlog.

He also shared a video of a man whose face has been ripped off, with a message saying "I think the wife did this because he was late home from the pub".

The hearing was told that Insp Ehikioya sent a "homophobic" video of a preacher referencing anal sex and another video of a female police officer in another country wearing leggings, and wrote: "We def ain't got girls like that in the Met".

There were also a series of "racist" messages about Chinese people and a "clearly racist" video mocking a Korean woman pronouncing Coca-Cola, graphic images of a woman on her period, pictures of a female's face being slapped by an erect penis and a joke about a "Taliban call girl", it was alleged.

Mr Francisco allegedly sent a video of a man snorting white powder through a tube while wearing a mask of Harvey Price's face, as the person filming says: "Go on Harvey, yeah".

In 2023, Mr Francisco was separately found guilty of gross misconduct over messages shared in another WhatsApp chat with seven others, including some about Harvey Price.

Katie Price, 46, the mother of Harvey Price, said at the time she was "shocked and upset" by the comments officers made about her 22-year-old son, who has Prader-Willi syndrome and autism.

Scotland Yard apologised to them after the hearing.

On April 1 2019, Inspector Ehikioya allegedly warned Mr Francisco to "stop sending or receiving these silly porns", saying he could get into "trouble".

The hearing was told that Mr Francisco replied: "I personally trust everyone I share something with... but sorry Charles I have to stop sharing with you now."

This was followed by two smiley faces and a later post saying "April fool ma brother ohh".

Jokes about sex with a girl with Down's syndrome and mockery of the late Duke of Edinburgh's car crash were also in the chatlog, a previous hearing heard.

Inspector Ehikioya denies the allegations, and his defence is that he did not send or receive the messages, Mr Berry said.

The officer previously claimed he was racially harassed by two white colleagues when he was pulled over in Croydon, south London, on 23 May 2020.

No action was taken against Insp Ehikioya as a result of the stop and the Met said a review "found no evidence of misconduct".

The hearing is due to run until January 10.

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