Detective who complained about Met Police event where trans activist branded gender critical views 'twisted and warped' loses tribunal

Daily Mail​

07-07-2025

A gender-critical detective has lost an employment tribunal against the Met Police after claiming she felt like 'Daniel in the lion's den' at a force event for trans rights.
Detective Constable Melanie Newman accused the Met Police of being 'institutionally biased against people with gender critical views' after the talk by a trans rights activist who branded gender critical views 'twisted and warped'.
DC Newman - who believes biological sex is 'immutable' - was left 'offended' by what Eva Echo said at the Met's 'Trans Day of Visibility' event which was attended by senior officers.
Echo, a trans woman who was born male, also told the event at New Scotland Yard that gender critical people are 'obsessed', and show 'cult-like behaviour'.
The activist has previously publicly accused Harry Potter Author JK Rowling of being on a mission to 'erase trans people'.
DC Newman, a trainee at the time, said she was appalled that Echo's talk was applauded and felt like the Met Police was discriminating against gender critical people by giving Echo a platform.
DC Newman did not attend the event in person, but via Microsoft Teams while getting ready for her shift.
She took notes of what 'disturbed' her and lodged complaints with the Met, eventually trying to sue the force for religion or belief harassment and discrimination.
But the London South Employment Tribunal has now dismissed her claims - ruling that it was not discriminatory of the Met to host the event or invite Echo as a speaker.
The Tribunal said DC Newman should not have been 'surprised' at what she heard, given how 'divisive' gender issues are.
It was heard that DC Newman, now in the child abuse team at Croydon, joined the Met as a trainee in March 2022 having previously been a journalist who wrote about gender issues.
The 'Trans Day of Visibility' event was held at New Scotland Yard in March 2023.
Around 100 officers attended the event in person but attendance was not compulsory and staff were invited to attend remotely if they were interested.
It was heard the event was held to increase awareness around trans rights for Met Police officers following the Baroness Casey Review into the Met's culture and standards of behaviour, following the 2021 murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Met officer.
The tribunal heard there was 'a perceived absence of any reference to issues relevant to the trans community in the report that followed the review' in 2023.
In her talk, Echo said 'those who oppose or raise concerns about transwomen's access to female sports and spaces are motivated by hate with transwomen being an easy target'.
She said people with gender critical views showed 'cult-like behaviour' of being 'obsessed' and of having 'twisted, warped views'.
Echo called for officers to challenge anti-trans language and said 'These so-called saviours of women's rights - where were they when Roe v Wade was overturned?'.
She also said 'If they say trans women are sexual predators - ask why do you think that? Where are the stats? You quickly find there are no stats.'
DC Newman was 'disturbed' and said she felt like 'an incognito Daniel in the lion's den', a reference to the biblical story in which a religious man is sentenced to death for his belief in God.
She told the tribunal: 'I struggled to square the (Met Police's)' demands that officers challenge comments in private WhatsApp conversations with the unchallenged public endorsement of hostility towards GC (gender critical) people I had witnessed.
'Given the applause and positive comments in the chat it seemed likely that the audience did not recognise what was said as discriminatory, perhaps because they were not aware of an alternative view or perhaps the speech accorded with their existing views.
'Either that, or they were acting with impunity.
'I was upset, however my overwhelming feeling was of isolation and dread at the knowledge that it was down to me — a trainee detective on probation, with no standing or support network in the (Met) — to do something about what had happened.
'Out of 54,000 people in the MPS I felt there was no-one else I could speak to about this.'
DC Newman said she felt like she could not raise it with her line manager so complained through the Directorate of Professional Standards.
She told them: 'I do not feel, from what I heard of it, that this meeting would help meet the needs of trans people in London.
'Eva Echo portrayed an extreme, one-sided and conspiratorial view of a complex debate.
'In the meeting she demonised people with the protected characteristic of gender critical beliefs without challenge, presenting them in her words as 'twisted' and hateful.'
DC Newman said the Met was 'institutionally' bias against gender critical people.
As a result of her complaints the Met carried out a review of the event which made eight recommendations, including one about engaging with gender critical staff.
It led to the force establishing the Gender Critical Network.
Employment Judge Christina Morton said DC Newman was not harassed or discriminated.
Judge Morton said: 'The holders of gender critical beliefs were not in the minds of the organisers of the event, consciously or unconsciously.
'The event was not directed at them, they were not expressly invited to it and their attendance was neither sought nor discouraged.
'On that basis, the booking of Eva Echo to speak at the (event) did not amount to harassment...'
The judge said the panel debated DC Newman's offence to the event 'at length'.
The detective 'attended the event without compulsion or encouragement, out of a well-established prior interest in the subject', Judge Morton said.
'It was part of the (Met's) purpose in hosting the event to promote understanding of a particular set of beliefs.
'The process of gaining such an understanding may involve exposure to the strength of feeling evoked by the conflicting belief system, as it did in this case.'
Judge Morton said there was 'no evidence' of discrimination towards gender critical people and it was not harassment to invite Echo.