Freed to drive cab, rogue ex-cop who’s ‘serious risk to public’
Off icer had sex with suspect and gave her drugs
A DETECTIVE who had sex with a female suspect after plying her with drugs is now working as a taxi driver in Scotland’s biggest city – despite police branding him ‘a serious threat to public safety’.
Grant McPherson, 37, was jailed in April for four months for what a judge called an ‘utterly deplorable... breach of public trust’.
The married father of one – a former officer with the Metropolitan Police in London – drugged a student and took her to hotels for sex while he was on duty.
He also had sex with the 20-yearold in a police station.
But The Scottish Mail on Sunday can reveal he has been freed and is driving an Uber cab in Glasgow.
This is despite a direct appeal to the city council from Police Scotland’s Chief Constable, who raised ‘serious concerns for public safety’ and warned that McPherson was not a ‘fit and proper person’ to hold a taxi licence.
Scottish Tory MSP for Glasgow Annie Wells said: ‘It will be of obvious concern to people in Glasgow that such an individual is free to operate as a private hire driver.
‘We need to ensure that all taxi drivers, including those operating on Uber, are subject to stringent checks.’
The revelation comes only two months after authorities in London refused to renew Uber’s operating licence amid public safety fears. Last week, The Scottish Mail on Sunday saw McPherson leaving his flat in Glasgow’s South Side and heading out for shifts in a Ford Mondeo bearing the Uber logo.
His profile on the taxi app identifies him only as Grant.
Born and raised in Scotland, McPherson served with the police for 16 years, as a uniformed officer and a detective constable.
He was jailed at Snaresbrook Crown Court in London for misconduct in a public office.
The court heard he gave suspect Jessica Lorenzin, 20, from Albania, his personal mobile number after interviewing her about criminal damage in October 2015.
He received a message from the student once her case was dropped and their chats became intimate.
They were soon meeting at spas for threesomes and had sex at Notting Hill Police Station while McPherson was working.
He then started encouraging the student to take drugs. Ms Lorenzin believed she was being given cocaine but McPherson insisted he gave her only herbal Viagra and so-called ‘legal highs’.
Jailing McPherson, Judge Martyn Zeidman branded his behaviour an ‘utterly deplorable... breach of public trust and confidence’.
All private hire car and taxi drivers in Glasgow, including those with Uber, must have a licence from the council, granted after a vetting process involving UK and overseas criminal record checks.
McPherson applied for a licence in March and it became effective a month later. Council sources said he failed to declare his court case.
In May, police became aware of the application and wrote to the council demanding his licence be revoked. A letter from Chief Constable Phil Gormley states: ‘Mr McPherson is no longer a fit and proper person to hold the licence.’
The letter asks for the ‘immediate suspension’ of the licence and refers to McPherson’s ‘inappropriate and intimate relationship with a suspect’, adding: ‘There are serious concerns for public safety.’
But a panel of councillors at Glasgow City Council disagreed.
A council source said: ‘They listened to what he had to say and on balance they came to the conclusion that this guy was worthy of continuing as a private hire driver.
‘Perhaps if they’d Googled him they might have reached a different decision.’
When McPherson was approached by The Scottish Mail on Sunday last week, he said he was a changed man, adding: ‘I want to live my life honestly and with positivity.
‘I don’t want to go back to that time – it was draining. I was
‘Utterly deplorable... breach of public trust’
overworked and stressed and I’d just had a little boy. I was just burnt out and drinking a lot. What I did was completely wrong.
‘My life has changed completely, I’m doing a really good job with Uber. I’m doing a lot of stuff now that I wasn’t doing before, working with charities and with people with addiction. I’m trying to move on.’
Glasgow City Council said: ‘Public safety is always paramount when the committee is deliberating on any decision. The licence holder in this case was warned against his future conduct.’
Uber said it was not responsible for carrying out background checks or deciding who receives a licence.
Police Scotland declined to comment further.