Gay Met inspector claims he was pushed out of the force by ‘bullying’
A gay police inspector has claimed he was forced out of his role after being unlawfully arrested by allegedly homophobic special constables.
As reported in the Evening Standard, Richard Hendron, 31, from Richmond, south-west London, filed papers at the High Court in which he claimed he was forced to leave the Met two years after the incident, which took place in 2007.
He also claims that post-arrest, he was victimised by police bosses.
Mr Hendron told PinkNews.co.uk that he was at the time the line manager of the special constables in question, who were twin bothers and were drunk when they grabbed him after he fell leaving a Kensington pub after drinking with them “in capacity as their inspector” at Christmas 2007.
He claims they shouted at him: “You’re nicked, guv, for drunk and disorderly.”
He alleges the constables dragged him to a nearby post office to wait for uniformed officers to arrive and handcuff him.
He was released the following day, but claims he was never given a chance to make a complaint about the incident or tell his version of events.
After the incident, Mr Hendron moved to the Met’s territorial policing HQ and later still to a role in Tower Hamlets, where he claims to have suffered “constant bullying and harassment from the senior management team.”
He left the force in 2009.
Mr Hendron, now a trained barrister representing himself against the Met, claimed his arrest was “unlawful”.
Mr Hendron is a Tory Party volunteer and hope to stand as an MP at the next election, wrote that the special constables “acted unlawfully and maliciously in exercising their power, which was motivated by personal reasons against the claimant.”
He added: “It was an off-duty officer with two staff, who were both drunk, tripping in the road and they arrest him for being drunk. Are they motivated by something other than protecting public safety?”
“These specials, because they don’t do much in terms of policing, get carried away and misuse their powers.”
Speaking to PinkNews.co.uk, Mr Hendron said: “Without a doubt, the police have come a long way in the last 10-15 years. But there is still some way to go. It is not not publically acceptable to be homophobic and the police go to great lengths to impress this upon their officers.
“However it does not mean homophobia is not [extant] in the police . . . the difference now is that it is a lot more underground thus harder to identify.
“I saw this a lot when I was running the Gay Police Association. The police need to try harder to ensure that the people they recruit have [fewer] prejudices, rather then recruit people and then tell them they can’t be racist, homophobic et al.”
The Met offered no comment.
