Martin Borg, Philip Neilson and Joe McIlvenny
Introduction
Martin Borg, Philip Neilson and Joe McIlvenny are former Metropolitan Police officers — two constables and a sergeant — who were dismissed without notice for gross misconduct on 23 October 2025 following accelerated disciplinary hearings arranged by the force. All three were placed on policing’s barred list, permanently ending any possibility of returning to British policing. Their dismissals were the first three outcomes of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation triggered by the BBC Panorama documentary exposing racist, misogynistic and other discriminatory behaviour among officers based at Charing Cross police station, and the IOPC said the evidence against them was incontrovertible. Six more Met officers faced accelerated hearings in the days immediately after theirs.
Background Information
All three served at Charing Cross, the central London station whose officer culture was exposed by undercover BBC journalism broadcast in October 2025. The IOPC decided within days of the broadcast that officers with incontrovertible evidence against them should face accelerated misconduct hearings — a fast-track process that exists precisely so forces can dismiss officers without the months-long timeline of ordinary misconduct proceedings. The Charing Cross investigation drew on footage the BBC filmed undercover, additional material the broadcaster later handed to investigators, and allegations from a public witness appeal; it ultimately examined the conduct of dozens of officers and staff at the station.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Allegations. The claims in this section are findings of police misconduct panels at accelerated hearings, decided on the civil standard of proof. None of the three officers was criminally charged or adjudicated in court over the conduct described, no denials or defences from them appear in the published record of the hearings, and the officers are not named as having been convicted of any offence.
The misconduct panels found that Borg, Neilson and McIlvenny breached the police standards of professional behaviour, with the discriminatory comments they made described by the IOPC as including misogynistic, Islamophobic and racist remarks. IOPC Director Amanda Rowe said: “The behaviour of these three officers and the discriminatory comments made – including misogynistic, Islamophobic and racist remarks - were inexcusable.” She noted the evidence against the three was incontrovertible, which allowed the IOPC to decide it was appropriate for accelerated gross misconduct hearings to take place and to take swift action to ensure the Met had the evidence it needed to hold them without delay. All three were dismissed without notice and placed on policing’s barred list on the same day, 23 October 2025 — the hearing list later published by the IOPC records McIlvenny, Borg and Neilson’s hearings all on that date, the first of the Charing Cross wave.
Public Reaction and Consequences
Rowe said the behaviour of the officers, and its exposure, “damaged the public’s trust in the Met,” adding: “Not only have they let down the public, but also the good officers who show up every day to serve Londoners. It is right that they have been quickly held to account, dismissed and barred from policing.” The three were the first of what became a wave: PS Clayton Robinson and PC Jason Sinclair-Birt faced hearings the next day, PS Lawrence Hume in early November, PC Sean Park in late November, and further officers through January and February 2026 — fifteen officers from the station ultimately had gross misconduct proven, with all but one barred from policing. The speed of the dismissals, within days of the broadcast rather than months, was presented by both the IOPC and the Met as evidence that the fast-track process could work at scale.
Current Status
Borg, Neilson and McIlvenny are former police officers on the national police barred list, which is checked by every force and many public bodies before hiring; their dismissals are final. The Charing Cross investigation that swept them out of the force continued past their dismissals into 2026, with further officers dismissed and barred, an officer — PS Sadiq Al-Hasani — charged with perverting the course of justice in September 2026, and investigations continuing into further officers and staff. None of the three has publicly commented on their dismissals in any record covered here.
Impact on Their Career/Life
For three serving officers, dismissal without notice and barring within weeks of a television broadcast is the steepest fall the discipline system can impose short of prosecution — loss of livelihood, pension implications, and a permanent bar from the profession. Their cases anchor the public record of the Charing Cross scandal: the IOPC’s first statement naming dismissed officers names theirs, and the subsequent monthly drumbeat of Charing Cross hearings — including the former PC whose case, unlike theirs, escaped the bar because he had already resigned — is measured against the precedent they set. The scandal has become a standing reference in national debates about racism, misogyny and accountability inside the Met.
Sources
- Independent Office for Police Conduct, “Statement following the dismissals of three Met Police officers following investigation of officers based at Charing Cross police station,” 23 October 2025. source
- Independent Office for Police Conduct, “Charing Cross investigation update – gross misconduct findings for nine officers, further investigations into officers’ behaviour under way,” 14 February 2026. source