‘He has no place in the Met’: Serving Met constable convicted of sexual assault

A serving Met constable has been dismissed without notice after he was convicted of sexual assault following an incident which took place in December 2022.

Detective Constable Jose Poonsawat, attached to the Central South Command Unit, appeared at Croydon Magistrates’ Court on July 12, charged with sexual assault.

He pleaded guilty and was released on court bail to appear for sentencing on Friday.

He was sentenced to a high level community order for six months, given a curfew for four months – while also tagged – and ordered to pay court costs of £199.

Poonsawat was accused of sexually touching a woman without her consent during an off duty incident on December 16, 2022.

He was investigated by officers from Bromley and the Met’s Domestic Abuse and Sexual Offences team, which sits within the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards.

During the investigation Poonsawat continued working at the Met, on restricted duties, before he was suspended in July.

At the hearing on August 20, the chair, Assistant Commissioner Pippa Mills, found that Poonsawat breached the standards of conduct at the level of “gross misconduct” and dismissed him without notice.

Detective Superintendent Vanessa Britton, acting commander for policing in Lambeth and Southwark, said: “My thoughts are with the victim who has displayed courage in reporting this sexual assault.

“In this case DC Poonsawat has been held to account both by the courts and the Met’s rigorous misconduct process.

“He has no place in the Met and has been rightly dismissed.”

Following the hearing Poonsawat will be placed on the barred list held by the College of Policing, the Met said.

Those appearing on the list cannot be employed by police, local policing bodies (PCCs), the Independent Office for Police Conduct or His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services.

This comes following a report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) published on August 15.

The report, based on a recent inspection, found the Met required improvement in five areas – preventing crime, responding to the public, protecting vulnerable people, creating a positive workplace, and leadership and force management – and was judged adequate in one area: the use of police powers and how the public are treated.

The Met has been in special measures, known officially as Engage, since June 2022. The HMICFRS said the force would remain in the Engage process.

A spokesman from the Met said it was “using every available resource to deliver more trust, less crime and high standards”.

Pictured top: Scotland Yard (Picture: The Met)