Met Police Sergeant Charged With Perverting Justice in First Prosecution Tied to BBC Charing Cross Probe

A Metropolitan Police sergeant has been charged with perverting the course of justice, becoming the first person to face criminal proceedings as a result of a BBC Panorama investigation into alleged misconduct at Charing Cross police station in central London.

Sgt Sadiq Al-Hasani, 37, is accused of attempting to dissuade a fellow officer from providing a statement to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), the watchdog that oversees complaints against police forces in England and Wales. He is scheduled to appear before Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.

According to the Met, the charge stems from an allegation that Al-Hasani, who was attached to the force's Central West Command Unit, "deliberately sought to discourage another officer from making a statement to the Independent Office for Police Conduct." The charge was formally brought on 13 August and relates to an incident that occurred on 2 October 2025.

The IOPC opened its investigation after the BBC broadcast "Undercover in the Police" on 1 October 2025. For the programme, a BBC journalist took a job inside the custody suite at Charing Cross and filmed secretly, capturing officers making racist remarks and boasting about violence they had used against suspects. The footage prompted widespread public condemnation and triggered urgent scrutiny of the culture inside one of London's busiest police stations.

In its own statement, the IOPC said Al-Hasani allegedly approached a junior officer who was regarded as a potential key witness in the broader Charing Cross inquiry. Investigators believe his intention was to obstruct or interfere with that probe. The Met confirmed that the sergeant remains suspended from duty while proceedings continue.

The watchdog's involvement began with a mandatory conduct referral from the Met on 3 October, two days after the Panorama programme aired. As part of its work, the IOPC examined unbroadcast footage gathered during the undercover filming, material that gave investigators a fuller picture of events inside the custody suite than the public had seen.

That phase of the investigation concluded in June, at which point the IOPC referred a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service, the body responsible for deciding whether criminal charges should be brought. The charges against Al-Hasani are the first to emerge from that referral.

The broader disciplinary fallout has been significant. According to the IOPC, 15 officers have been found to have committed gross misconduct. All but one of them — a former police constable — have been barred from policing, meaning they can no longer serve in any force in the country. The scale of those findings underscores the seriousness with which the allegations have been treated.

The case against Al-Hasani is distinct from that disciplinary process. Perverting the course of justice is a common law offence that carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, and prosecutions typically allege that a person acted to mislead or obstruct the justice system. The decision to charge a serving officer with such an offence signals how gravely investigators view any attempt to interfere with a witness in a sensitive inquiry.

Separately, investigations are continuing into the conduct of a further 14 officers or police staff, the IOPC said. That means the total number of individuals still under scrutiny remains substantial, and further charges or disciplinary outcomes have not been ruled out.

For the Metropolitan Police, the development adds to pressure over accountability and internal culture. The force has faced repeated questions in recent years about how it handles misconduct allegations, how quickly it refers cases to the watchdog and whether officers who speak up are properly protected. The allegation at the heart of this charge — that an officer tried to stop a colleague from cooperating with investigators — strikes directly at those concerns.

Legal and policing observers note that cases of alleged witness interference are often difficult to prove because they depend on showing a clear intent to frustrate an investigation. The IOPC's reliance on both broadcast and unbroadcast Panorama footage, however, may provide unusually detailed evidence about what was said and done inside the custody suite during the relevant period.

The IOPC has emphasised that its investigation into the wider Charing Cross issues is not complete. The referral of a file to the CPS is a procedural step and does not guarantee charges, though in this instance it has resulted in a prosecution. The remaining investigations will determine whether more officers face criminal or disciplinary consequences.

Wednesday's hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court is expected to be brief, covering the charge and initial case management before the matter is sent to a higher court. Al-Hasani has not yet entered a plea. The Met declined to comment beyond its statement, and the IOPC said it would not discuss evidence ahead of court proceedings.

The case is likely to draw continued attention because of its origin in undercover journalism. The Panorama investigation placed a reporter inside a working custody suite, an unusual and legally delicate approach that produced direct evidence of officer conduct rather than second-hand accounts.

For now, the charge against Sgt Al-Hasani represents the first criminal step in a process that began with a television broadcast and has since expanded into a multi-stranded inquiry involving more than two dozen officers and staff. Further developments are expected as both the prosecution and the remaining IOPC investigations move forward.