Met Police officer to appear in court accused of using position to contact witness in his own assault case

24 April 2023, 13:45 | Updated: 24 April 2023, 13:50

A serving Metropolitan Police officer will appear in court today after being accused of using his position to contact witnesses in a case where he was charged with assault.

PC Bilal Naveed was arrested on April 21 after an alleged assault on April 1 when he was off duty.

The officer has been suspended from the Met and was remanded in custody before his court appearance today at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court.

He stands accused of using his position to try and contact witnesses in his assault case, which has led to a charge of perverting the course of justice for the suspended public servant.

PC Naveed has been reported to the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) and the Directorate of Public Standards (DPS) in connection with his case.

It is the latest setback for the Met which has seen several high-profile police misconduct cases following the wide-ranging reviews ordered in the wake of the horrific murder of Sarah Everard in 2020 by serving officer Wayne Couzens.

Couzens was later convicted of raping and murdering Everard before being given a whole life sentence.

Couzens' case was followed by news of the horrific spate of sexual assaults and rapes commited by PC David Carrick - a serving member of the elite group of firearms officers who protect politicians and dignitaries.

Those cases led to a far-reaching review led by Baroness Louise Casey which was published last month - slamming the Met in the process.

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Baroness Casey's report stopped short of calling for the UK’s largest police force to be split up after numerous high-profile cases of officers abusing their power.

But she too did not rule out the possibility that the Met could be harbouring more criminal officers like killer Wayne Couzens and serial rapist David Carrick.

The 363-page report details misogyny, homophobia and racism throughout the force, find senior officers tried to "shift the problem" instead of deal with it, and that women's services were deprioritised.

Speaking to LBC's Shelagh Fogarty after the report was published, she said: "The Met needs to "woman up" to be really blunt about the fact they need to take responsibility. For the way they behave.

"And they blame the media a lot, so very interesting when we ask them where do you think the reputation of the Met has nosedived, they blame you, they blame the media.

"And I keep saying to them 'if you didn't have officers that are being done for indecent assault that are in the newspapers… you wouldn't have anything to talk about'."

"So there's an abdication of responsibility that goes right throughout the ranks, and denial and defensiveness that they have to change."