A Met Police officer has failed in an appeal to overturn his dismissal for making a single racist comment

PC Toby Caswell was found to have played ‘jokes’ on a mixed heritage officer called PC Langeveldt in late 2019 before saying to him “Why don’t you just go back to your country?” and threatening to resign if he had to work on a shift with him.

He was sacked for gross misconduct in 2023 and brought an appeal against the dismissal to a tribunal in London on 20th March 2024.

The panel upheld the ruling saying the decision was not unreasonable. Rachel Crasnow KC, chairwoman of the panel, told the hearing: “We cannot say there is any unreasonable decision or breach of procedure here.”

Lawyers representing Mr Caswell, argued that new evidence brought inconsistencies to PC Langeveldt’s recollections that would have “shifted the balance in Caswell’s favour”. In particular, PC Langeveldt said he had contacted a sergeant immediately after the racist comment but the sergeant in question had left the unit a month before the racist incident took place.

Mrs Crasnow KC said the new evidence did not undermine PC Langeveldt’s recollections of the racist comment.

Mr Caswell previously admitted unnecessarily instructing PC Langeveldt to collect a sample of faeces found at a home during a welfare check, later saying it was intended as a joke.

In another incident, Mr Caswell told PC Langeveldt to turn over a decomposed body, causing the cadaver to split open, and was found to have mocked his co-worker about the incident afterwards.

Mr Caswell will remain on the Barred List held by the College of Policing.

Daniel Hobbs of 5 Essex Chambers represented the MPS at the misconduct hearing and the appeal, both of which have been reported in the national press https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-68619575

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Authors

Daniel Hobbs

Call 1998

Related areas

Employment

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Police Law

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