Gross misconduct verdict for officer who admitted trying to groom girl

Met Police officer, 57, who admitted trying to groom 13-year-old girl while he was on duty is found guilty of gross misconduct

  • PC Mark Collins admitted seven counts in January and resigned a month later
  • The 57-year-old is currently awaiting sentencing for the crimes at the Old Bailey
  • A Special Case hearing was then told he ‘would’ve been dismissed’ if still serving

A Met Police officer who admitted trying to groom a 13-year-old girl while he was on duty has been found guilty of gross misconduct. 

PC Mark Collins admitted six counts of trying to communicate with someone under 16 for sexual gratification and one count of attempting to incite a girl aged 13 to ‘engage in sexual activity’ back in January.

The 57-year-old resigned from the force a month later and is currently awaiting sentencing at the Old Bailey. 

This week, a Special Case hearing was held over claims of gross misconduct, presided over by Met Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball.

The Met said an allegation had been proven against the ex-officer, who was first arrested in November 2019.

Following the hearing on Wednesday, AC Ball ruled that ‘having considered all of the evidence…found the allegation proven and had PC Mark Collins still been a serving officer he would have been dismissed’ a police statement said.

Met Police officer Mark Collins, who admitted trying to groom a 13-year-old girl while he was on duty, has been found guilty of gross misconduct 

The hearing was to answer an allegation that Collins’ conduct amounted to a breach of standards of professional behaviour in respect of discreditable conduct.

This conduct was alleged to amount to gross misconduct, Scotland Yard said.

The Met said Collins was attached to the force’s South Area command unit that includes Bromley, Croydon and Sutton.

Collins’ hearing came just hours after a misconduct case was proven against another officer who previously served with the Met’s south London unit.

A Special Case Hearing for PC Dean Cupit, formerly based at South Area Command, took place on Wednesday.

Cupit previously pleaded guilty to a Section 2A offence under the Protection from Harassment Act 1979 [stalking].

That offence took place between April and October 2019.

At Guildford Crown Court last month he was sentenced to an 18 month community order, 25 days of rehabilitation around stalking/harassment, 100 hours of unpaid work and was ordered to pay £500 court costs fine and £95 victim surcharge.

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