A serving officer has been dismissed without notice at an accelerated misconduct hearing following his conviction for sexual assault.
Detective Constable Jose Poonsawat, attached to the Central South Command Unit, appeared at Croydon Magistrates’ Court on Friday, July 12, charged with sexual assault.
He pleaded guilty and was released on court bail to appear for sentencing on Friday, August 23.
He was accused of sexually touching a woman without her consent during an off-duty incident on December 16, 2022. He was investigated by the officers from Bromley and the Met’s Domestic Abuse and Sexual Offences team. This sits within our Directorate of Professional Standards.
He was sentenced to a high-level community order for six months, given a curfew for four months—while also tagged—and ordered to pay court costs of £199.
During the investigation, DC Poonsawat was placed on restricted duties before being suspended in July.
At the hearing on Tuesday, August 20, the chair, Assistant Commissioner Pippa Mills, found that DC Poonsawat breached the standards of discreditable conduct at the level of gross misconduct and dismissed him without notice.
Detective Superintendent Vanessa Britton, acting commander for policing in Lambeth and Southwark, said: “My thoughts are with the victim who has displayed courage in reporting this sexual assault. Officers are quite rightly held to account for wrongdoing by the courts.
“In this case DC Poonsawat has been held to account both by the courts and the Met’s rigorous misconduct process. He has no place in the Met and has been rightly dismissed.”
Following the hearing, DC Poonsawat 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, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, or His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services.
