Met PC who did not disclose firearms probe sacked

A Metropolitan Police officer has been dismissed for failing to disclose his arrest on suspicion of drinking and driving and an investigation into possessing firearms.

PC Mohammed Bhatti was accused by his ex-partner of threatening her with two pistols, which led to Sussex Police searching his home. He was also arrested by the same force for "driving a motor vehicle with excess alcohol" after a car crash in 2008, the Met Police said.

However, when filling out police vetting forms in 2020, Bhatti said he had not been arrested or investigated.

He claimed at a subsequent misconduct hearing he had "misunderstood the wording" of the form.

The hearing, which took place in December, ruled his actions amounted to gross misconduct and he was dismissed without notice.

Bhatti, known as Oz, became a police community support officer in 2003, and a police constable in 2009. In 2017, he appeared in a BBC documentary called The Met Policing London.

The hearing was told Bhatti had been arrested in 2008 after crashing into four sets of railings. Sussex Police found his alcohol level was below the legal limit and took no further action.

Bhatti said he could not remember speaking to officers or being arrested.

Between October 2011 and August 2012, he was investigated by the Sussex and Greater Manchester forces on suspicion of firearms offences.

His ex-partner accused him of threatening her with pistols, and his home was searched by Sussex Police. Bhatti later voluntarily attended a police interview after a BB gun and a gas-powered gun were seized from his bedroom, which were found to be "legal weapons".

He told the misconduct hearing his ex-partner's allegations "had been maliciously made and were untrue".

The hearing heard he failed to notify the Met Police about the crash, but that he told his work supervisor about the firearms investigation, although he could not recall if he had informed Professional Standards.

Colleagues made character statements supporting him at the hearing, including one officer who described him as "a police officer of exemplary character".

Hearing chairwoman Cdr Katie Lilburn found that Bhatti had had a "clear obligation" to disclose the arrest and investigation on the 2020 vetting form.

"I have concluded that PC Bhatti lacked candour and lacked honesty, and that in omitting such detail he deliberately sought to conceal information for his own personal gain," she said.

Bhatti accepted he had been in "breach of the professional standards of behaviour in respect of orders and instructions", but denied gross misconduct.

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