Phone hacking scandal Met officer involved in employment tribunal

An employment tribunal has heard how a Metropolitan police officer embroiled in the phone hacking scandal was allegedly racist and homophobic.

Assistant commissioner John Yates was alleged to have been extremely brief when dealing with a black, gay officer who was on sick leave with depression, according to the Daily Mail.

Detective constable Kevin Maxwell, who is facing dismissal from the force under the Unsatisfactory Performance Procedure, claims that his application to keep his £40,000 a year salary longer than the normal six-month period was rejected because he had raised allegations of racism and homophobia.

Kweku Aggrey-Orleans, representing detective constable Maxwell, told Mr Yates: "I suggest that you dealt with Mr Maxwell's application for an extension of pay extremely briefly and without properly considering it because you knew that he had raised allegations of racism and homophobia."

Assistant commissioner Yates resigned from the Met in July and will formally step down in November following the phone hacking scandal.

Although Mr Yates was cleared of misconduct in the phone hacking scandal in August by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, the assistant commissioner's relationship with former News of the World deputy editor Neil Wallis had not yet been discerned.

Published by Tessa Jones