Michael Chadwell, 62, of Liss, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom is one of the six former Metropolitan Police Service officers accused of sharing racist messages on a free internet-based text and voice messaging service between September 2020 and September 2022. They were members of Old Boys Beer Meet – Wales, a WhatsApp group established in August 2018 for police officers to maintain contact after retirement.
Numerous racist, homophobic and sexist messages were exchanged in the group’s chat. References to the Prince and Princess of Wales, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, U.K.’s prime minister Rishi Sunak, U.K.’s former home secretary Priti Patel and U.K.’s former health secretary Sajid Javid were included in the messages shared in the group.
In November 2015, Chaldwell retired from the Met. In September 2022, he shared in the WhatsApp group a graphic created by someone else.
The graphic showed a picture of different colored parrots above an image of children of different races. On the photo was a text that read, “Why do we cherish the variety of colour in every species… but our own? because I have never had a bike stolen out of my front yard by a parrot.”
Each of the six former Met officers was charged with improper use of a public electronic communications network offence. On November 6, 2023, Chaldwell was found guilty of one count of sending by public communication grossly offensive racist messages at the City of London Magistrates’ Court in London, England.
On December 7, 2023, Chaldwell and the five other former Met officers appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London. He was given a 10-weeks imprisonment, a 12-month suspension and 100 hours of unpaid work.
“It is shocking that six retired police officers who spent their careers upholding the law could think it was acceptable to send these grossly offensive messages,” London South Complex Casework Unit senior crown prosecutor Adeniyi Ogunleye stated. “The sentences given today clearly demonstrate that they were not just shocking or disturbing jokes, but grossly offensive messages that amount to criminal behaviour.”
CONAN Daily 