Twelfth Met officer sacked over BBC Panorama film

A Metropolitan Police officer who said he hated homeless people and "couldn't wait" to Taser someone has been sacked from the force.

PC Lloyd Hunter was filmed during an undercover BBC investigation saying Tasering people was "just so much fun" and that he wanted to "get rid of" homeless people, a police misconduct hearing was told.

The covert filming at Charing Cross police station took place while Hunter, aged 23 at the time, was drinking with an undercover journalist in Earl's Court in November 2024.

Since the Panorama programme aired, 12 Met Police officers and one Gloucestershire officer have been dismissed or barred from the profession.

The Panorama journalist spent seven months posing as a detention officer at the central London police station covertly filming officers.

Hunter, from Cumbria, was not featured in the October 2025 programme but was investigated after the BBC shared unaired footage with the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), the hearing heard on Wednesday.

The hour-long programme showed officers calling for immigrants to be shot, boasting about excessive use of force and joking about rape and sexual assault.

After drinking two pints, Hunter, who had recently completed his Taser training, told the reporter, "I cannot wait to do it, I love it" and when asked who he would Taser first replied, "probably a homeless man".

He said he would like to arrest all the homeless people in Oxford Street each week, giving them various orders and notices which would lead to them all going to prison.

He said: "I think we should get rid of them, we should just bin them off, I hate them."

At the accelerated misconduct hearing in Sutton, south London, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Carl Galvin ruled the behaviour amounted to gross misconduct and dismissed Hunter from the force without notice – barring him from re-entering the profession.

Stephen Morley, making the case against Hunter, said he should have been setting a very high standard and "failed dismally" with his "vile comments".

He said the comments would "horrify" members of the public, particularly vulnerable homeless people.

Giving evidence at the hearing, Hunter apologised for his comments, calling them "abhorrent".

He said it felt like an "avalanche hitting" when he was suspended, adding: "I always wanted to be a police officer."

Hunter said he had responded to "ridiculous comments" made by the reporter because he wanted to make friends as he did not have many at Charing Cross.

Nine officers continue to be investigated by the police watchdog in relation to the Panorama programme, including three criminal investigations.

Another officer is due to face a misconduct hearing on 15 September.

IOPC director of engagement Amanda Rowe said: "Regardless of whether these comments were made on or off-duty, they are completely unacceptable and undermine the public's confidence in police officers."

The BBC Panorama programme followed an investigation by the IOPC which in 2022 revealed evidence of misogyny, homophobia and sexual harassment at Charing Cross police station, including officers joking about rape.

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