A misconduct hearing was held at the Empress State Building, SW6, on Tuesday, 22 March to Friday, March 25 in relation to the case of former Detective Constable Joseph Gilligan, who was attached to the North West Basic Command Unit

The hearing heard that on 26 March 2019 former DC Gilligan was appointed as the officer in charge of an investigation where a woman accused her former partner of domestic abuse. On 20 June 2019, formed DC Gilligan abused his position of trust and started an improper sexual relationship with the victim.

On 28 October 2019 former DC Gilligan made an unauthorised disclosure when he shared sensitive images and footage with the victim from a serious sexual assault investigation he was dealing with.

The hearing heard that between 4 January 2020 and 11 February 2020, the former officer carried out four unauthorised searches for which there was no policing purpose in relation to the victim and her former partner.

On 19 December 2019, he forwarded confidential emails from his Met police work account to his personal email account regarding criminal investigations into or concerning the victim, her former partner and other members of the public.

The hearing heard that between 1 December 2019 and 11 December 2019 former DC Gilligan accessed the victim’s mobile phone on three occasions without her consent – twice at her house and one at the police station where he worked. He viewed text messages and photos on the phone, deleted photographs and viewed a work conversation recorded on the phone. On one occasion he filmed himself reading a text message she had sent to a work colleague and sent the recording to another person.

Finally, the hearing heard that on 29 November 2019 he crashed his personal car into a vehicle in a police station car park. At the time of the collision, it is alleged he was over the drink-drive limit and so he failed to report the collision when it happened. Instead, he reported it the following day and untruthfully said the collision happened because he had suffered a diabetic episode.

The independent chair Cameron Brown, and panel members, considered all of the evidence and found that the allegations against former DC Gilligan were proven to have breached the standards of professional behaviour in relation to discreditable conduct, confidentiality, honesty and integrity, and authority, respect and courtesy at a level of gross misconduct.

Gilligan resigned from the Met in February 2021. Had he still been a serving officer he would have been dismissed without notice.

The hearing followed a thorough investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

Chief Superintendent Sara Leach, who is in charge of policing for the North West Area Basic Command Unit, said: “Former DC Gilligan’s behaviour was completely unacceptable and I am pleased that he is no longer a serving officer – people like him are not welcome in our Met. His actions fell far below the rigorous values and standards that we strive to uphold.

“Officers should be doing everything in their power to protect victims, they should not be abusing their position of trust and power to form relationships with them.

“The trust of the public is fundamental to our core purpose of keeping London safe. Our communities deserve the best of its police officers and this kind of behaviour has no place at all in the Met.

“We only want the best and I hope this demonstrates that we will always act when our employees fall below the exemplary standards we and the public expect. Our professional standards team will continue to root out wrong-doing and hold those responsible to account.”
Former DC Gilligan will be placed on the barred list held by the College of Policing. Those appearing on the list cannot be employed by police, local policing bodies (PCCs), the Independent Office for Police Conduct or Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services.
We cannot and are not waiting for the findings of ongoing inquiries to begin rebuilding the public’s trust and confidence that police officers will protect and respect them. We have already taken a number of significant steps to start real change across the organisation. These include two independent reviews, an examination of all current investigations of sexual and domestic abuse allegations against Met employees and an increase in the number of investigators in our professional standards directorate.