Met Police tutor dismissed after biting student on neck and touching her thigh

Independent

4 hours ago

A Metropolitan Police tutor has been dismissed after he bit a female student officer on the neck and touched her thigh at a public work gathering.
Pc Chris Lee, who was a street duties instructor/tutor on one of the force's Borough Command Units, also touched the bottom of the student's back in a pub just three weeks into her course, a misconduct panel said.
He then texted the student after an end of course drinks event saying it was 'important to have a good time at work' and that she 'just didn't get' his behaviour.
Pc Lee had joined the Met in 2018, while the student was working on the unit and had began her course in October 2021.
There was a 'jovial culture' on the unit with tutors and students often going out for drinks together, as was the case when they went to the pub after work on November 5 2021, the panel said.
Pc Lee first put his hand on the student's thigh while she was sitting next to him in the pub.
As she then leaned across him later in the evening, the tutor then bit her on the left side of her neck, causing the student to say 'he just bit me', the panel said.
The student later said in evidence that the bite was 'not that hard' and did not leave a mark, but that she had 'felt teeth not lips'.
The tutor stated in evidence that he had consumed six or seven pints of beer that evening, and was drunk at the time of the incidents but still 'bodily capable'.
He accepted he had touched the student's thigh and kissed her on the neck, but denied touching her back and biting her.
But the panel found both of the disputed allegations proven on the balance of probabilities, and that Pc Lee's conduct was sexual and inappropriate in nature as he was attracted to the student.
A discussion involving Pc Lee and the student about favourite tutors then took place at the end of course drinks several weeks later, again at a pub, on December 3 2021, the panel said.
When his name was not mentioned, the tutor said to the student 'What did you just say', 'Who are your favourite tutors', and 'We got you your IPS (Independent Patrol Status) they didn't'.
The following day, Pc Lee sent the student a text about the discussion which said: 'I'm sorry you felt we were rude but we were not intentionally, that's our personalities together and I think it's important to have a good time at work.
'At no point did we every say anything rude against you and I'm sorry you felt that we were rude.
'You just didn't get us which is fine.'
The comments made by Pc Lee towards the student at the pub were found by the panel to be humiliating for her.
They found the tutor's overall behaviour in both incidents together amounted to gross misconduct, as it breached the force's Standards of Professional Behaviour.
Pc Lee was subsequently dismissed without notice at a misconduct hearing and placed on the College of Policing barred list.