Two Met officers and a former officer charged over WhatsApp messages

We can now name two serving Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officers and one former MPS officer who are to appear in court charged in connection with our investigation into the sending and sharing of inappropriate messages on WhatsApp.

Police constable (PC) Jonathon Cobban, aged 35, and former constable Joel Borders, 45, are both charged with five counts of sending grossly offensive messages on a public communications network contrary to section 127 of the Communications Act 2003.

PC William Neville, 33, is charged with two counts of the same offence.

The offences are alleged to have occurred variously between April and August 2019.

They will make a first appearance before Westminster Magistrates Court on 16 March.

The IOPC’s investigation began following a referral from the MPS in April last year (2021) and was completed in December when we referred a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

The CPS has now taken the decision to authorise charges against the officers.