A serving Metropolitan Police officer has been handed a ten-week suspended jail sentence for harassing a woman.
Trainee Detective Constable Christopher Gibbons, aged 32, was found guilty of the offence following the conclusion of a trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, 13 July.
He appeared at the same court on Thursday, 10 August where he was sentenced to ten weeks in custody, suspended for two years. He was issued a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement and ordered to pay the victim £500 compensation. He was also handed a restraining order preventing him from contacting the victim.
DC Gibbons, attached to the Central West Command Unit, was arrested on 25 September 2022 in connection with an incident that had taken place earlier that day, where he had harassed a woman.
A subsequent investigation carried out by officers from the Central South Command Unit established other occasions where Gibbons had harassed the same woman between 14 September and 25 September 2022.
He was charged with harassment on 21 February 2023; the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards was made aware and Gibbons was suspended from duty.
Chief Superintendent Louise Puddefoot, in charge of policing in Central West BCU, said:
“We have made it clear that any police officer or member of staff who commits a criminal offence will be brought to justice.
“We must give London the Met that it deserves, and anyone that fails to meet that standard, particularly if they commit a criminal offence, cannot possibly remain in our organisation.”
Following the conclusion of criminal proceedings, a misconduct hearing will be scheduled in due course.
