Asian whistleblower cop is awarded £35k in monkey toy row

AN Asian policeman who complained that a toy monkey had been put in the office of a black colleague was awarded £35,000 after police threatened him with the sack for reporting it.

The whistleblower was accused of gross misconduct over a post on an internal police forum about the black monkey wearing an officer’s shirt, it emerged yesterday.

It had been left in an office used by Evidential Review Officers (EROs) – one of whom was black – at Belgravia police station in west London. The stuffed black toy had an ID badge saying ‘night-duty ERO’.

An Indian-born detective constable raised the matter on an internal website known as the ‘Commissioner’s Forum’, where staff are encouraged to raise problems.

Senior officers promised to look into the ‘unacceptable’ incident in September 2013. But a month later the DC found himself the subject of an investigation after he was accused of posting ‘ untrue and potentially inflammatory comments’.

He was told his actions had ‘breached the standards of professional behaviour ... relating to honesty and integrity and discreditable conduct’ – claims which, if proved, could have led to his dismissal.

After almost two years of disciplinary proceedings, he was cleared of gross misconduct in June 2015.

He sued the force for racial discrimination and victimisation, receiving £35,000 in a settlement in March last year, the BBC Today show reported. Scotland Yard said there had been an ‘internal review’ over the handling of the case.