Metropolitan Police officer accused of kissing junior colleague as she sat in a police van showed her photographs of women on his phone saying ‘I’m dating them because you are not available’ misconduct hearing is told

• Metropolitan Police officer is accused of kissing officer as she sat in police van
• Sergeant George Panayi also ‘showed officer pictures of women on his phone’ 
• He said: ‘I’m dating them because you’re unavailable’, misconduct hearing heard
• It is alleged Panayi – part of the East Area Command Unit – breached standards of professional behaviour in respect of authority, respect and courtesy

A Metropolitan Police sergeant has been accused of kissing an officer as she sat in a police van after showing her photographs of women on his phone saying ‘I’m dating them because you are not available’, a misconduct hearing has heard.

Sergeant George Panayi, part of the East Area Command Unit, is accused of kissing and pinching the cheek of the female officer – without her consent – while on duty.

The female officer said it was ‘offensive, demeaning, horrifying’, during a police misconduct hearing on Monday. 

He is also accused of opening the door to a lavatory knowing the female officer was inside.  

It is alleged that Panayi breached the standards of professional behaviour in respect of authority, respect and courtesy.

It is further alleged that his conduct, if proven, amounts to gross misconduct and is so serious it would justify his sacking.

A Metropolitan Police sergeant has been accused of kissing an officer as she sat in a police van after showing her photographs of women on his phone saying ‘I’m dating them because you are not available’, a misconduct hearing has heard. Pictured: New Scotland Yard in London

During a police misconduct hearing on Monday, the female officer said she was sitting in the driver’s seat of a police van on 21 December, 2019 when Panayi approached and asked to see the log book.

She said he showed her photographs of women on his phone and told her: ‘I’m dating them because you are not available.’ 

After that, she said he grabbed her face ‘in a headlock’ with both hands and kissed her on the cheek.

She said he grabbed her in such a way that she ‘couldn’t move’.

The officer was asked by Julian Walters, counsel for the Met: ‘Had you consented to this?’

She replied: ‘Absolutely not.’ The woman said she and another officer in the van ‘looked at each other in shock’.

She said it was ‘offensive, demeaning, horrifying’, adding: ‘I was shocked. I did not know how to react.’

The female officer said she was ‘like a fish out of water’ and was not sure what to do. ‘It was unwanted. It was offensive,’ she said. 

The woman told the hearing that on 3 February, 2020, Panayi also pinched her cheek when she was in the middle of restraining a mental health patient trying to self-harm.

She said it was ‘completely unprofessional’ and added: ‘He didn’t do it to my other colleague. He did it to me.’

The woman told the hearing about the third allegation, said to have taken place on 9 February, 2020, in which she says Panayi opened the female lavatory door after she had gone in and before she had the chance to lock it.

‘He just laughed at me and walked off,’ she said.

The officer said she reported the incidents as they had not been one-offs.

‘This was becoming a pattern. My fear was that other things were going to happen,’ she said.

Sergeant George Panayi, part of the East Area Command Unit, is accused of kissing and pinching the cheek of the female officer – without her consent – while on duty. Pictured: New Scotland Yard in London

Asked if she thought there was a sexual motivation behind the alleged incidents, she said: ‘I do believe that, yes.’

The officer said there had been ‘stigma’ after she made the allegations, adding that some officers were supportive while others were not.

The officer who witnessed the kiss in the police van gave evidence at the hearing. She described it as a ‘peck on the cheek’, adding: ‘I didn’t really think anything of it.’

Pressed for her views on whether it is appropriate for colleagues to kiss, she said: ‘I mean, it’s probably not something that should happen in a professional capacity.’

She said she had not seen a sergeant kiss a constable before. 

Mr Walters said it is ‘expressly stated’ that police should show courtesy and respect towards both the public and their colleagues.

He said the allegations against Panayi involve acts, not words, adding that they are ‘deliberate’ acts meant to ‘interfere with the physical integrity’ of the female officer.

‘We say that those acts are, objectively measured by contemporary prevailing standards, disrespectful and discourteous,’ Mr Walters said.

He said it is ‘manifestly obvious’ that, when an ‘unsolicited, uninvited kiss’ is placed on the cheek of a colleague, it is by its very nature disrespectful and discourteous.

He said the difference in rank magnifies the lack of courtesy, saying the constable ‘cannot answer back in kind’ and was the victim of an ‘abuse of power’.

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