Former Met officer put on barred list for sending inappropriate messages to crime victim

A former Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officer who sent inappropriate messages to a victim of crime, despite previously being warned not to, has been placed on the barred list following an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

At an accelerated misconduct hearing today held in front of an assistant commissioner for the MPS, former PC Ashley Bashar’s actions were decided to have amounted to gross misconduct and he would have been sacked had he not resigned from the force in June 2022.

We began an independent investigation in March 2023 following a referral from the MPS relating to an allegation PC Bashar sent inappropriate messages to a woman who he came into contact with after she made a domestic abuse report.

We found that, between April 2020 and November 2020, PC Bashar sent messages of an increasingly personal nature to the woman and provided her with his personal number. The woman felt increasingly uncomfortable and PC Bashar would accuse her of ignoring him when she did not reply to his messages.

PC Bashar was also the subject of a previous IOPC investigation in 2018 relating to a similar allegation that he contacted a victim of crime using his personal phone.

He was directed to undergo further training, receiving “knowing the line” training in April 2020 and was reminded about the force’s policy around contacting victims on personal phones.

During our latest investigation we decided that there was sufficient evidence to recommend that the former officer should face an accelerated misconduct hearing for gross misconduct. 

The MPS agreed and following the hearing it determined that his actions breached the police standard of professional behaviour relating to discreditable conduct at the level of gross misconduct.

IOPC regional director Charmaine Arbouin said: “At the time when former PC Bashar first contacted the victim of domestic abuse, he was receiving further training following a similar incident where he contacted a victim on his personal phone. He had also confirmed he understood the force’s policy around this.

“Despite this, he continued to send personal messages to the woman over several months, even after she stopped responding. It’s clear he knew his behaviour was inappropriate and either was incapable of, or unwilling to change his behaviour.

“He has now been placed on the barred list, meaning he cannot be employed in policing in the future.”