Mason O’Connor

Introduction

Mason O’Connor is a former police constable with London’s Metropolitan Police Service who was attached to Charing Cross police station in central London, serving on the Central West Command Unit. He became the thirteenth serving Metropolitan Police officer to be dismissed since the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) launched an investigation in October 2025, in the wake of the BBC Panorama documentary “Undercover in the Police,” which exposed racism, misogyny and a culture of violence at the central London station. A misconduct hearing held on Tuesday, 15 September 2026 found that, while off-duty in a pub, O’Connor had told a female colleague: “I hope you get raped on your way to Waterloo.” The panel found the allegation proven and that he breached standards of professional behaviour for authority, respect and courtesy, equality and diversity, and discreditable conduct, and he was dismissed from the force.

Background Information

Unlike most of the officers caught up in the Charing Cross scandal, O’Connor did not appear in the Panorama footage itself. The documentary, broadcast in October 2025 after seven months of undercover filming by a Panorama journalist at the station, showed officers calling for immigrants to be shot, boasting about excessive use of force, and joking about rape and sexual assault. O’Connor came to light afterwards: the Met said he was reported to a “proactive wider investigation” into other concerns about officer conduct at Charing Cross that was launched after the programme aired. The specific incident against him dated to October 2024, before the documentary was broadcast — and, according to the IOPC, his case reached the investigation through a witness appeal it launched, which brought forward allegations from members of the public and staff who had worked at the station. Details of O’Connor’s age, length of service or prior disciplinary record were not reported in the coverage of his dismissal, and no public response from O’Connor himself was reported.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Gross misconduct finding; dismissed without notice and barred from policing. An accelerated misconduct hearing panel announced its outcome on 15 September 2026.

The finding against O’Connor comes from a disciplinary panel held at an accelerated misconduct hearing — a fast-track process the IOPC uses where the evidence is incontrovertible — so it is an adjudicated disciplinary outcome, not a criminal conviction; no criminal charge against him was reported. The panel heard that O’Connor, while off-duty in a pub in October 2024, told a female colleague: “I hope you get raped on your way to Waterloo”, as the Met put it in its own announcement — or, in the IOPC’s formulation, that he told her he hoped she would “get raped” on the way home from a night out. The matter was reported after Panorama aired, part through a witness appeal and part through the proactive wider investigation, rather than through the documentary footage itself. The panel found the allegation proven and that PC O’Connor breached standards of professional behaviour for discreditable conduct, equality and diversity, and authority, respect and courtesy. He was dismissed without notice and placed on the police barred list.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The immediate consequence was O’Connor’s dismissal without notice from the Metropolitan Police, announced on 15 September 2026, making him by the Met’s count the thirteenth serving officer to lose his job since the IOPC investigation began — and by the IOPC’s count the 15th officer found to have committed gross misconduct across all its Charing Cross cases, which include former officers. His sacking was reported by the BBC, the Guardian and the Independent as part of the continuing fallout from the Panorama documentary. It came just weeks after the dismissal of PC Lloyd Hunter, the twelfth officer, who in unaired Panorama footage was seen saying he enjoyed “Tasering people” and that he hated homeless people. Met Commander Simon Messinger, from the force’s professionalism department, said of the pair: “Two more officers have now been dismissed for their appalling comments and attitudes.” “I hope this sends a very clear message about the standards we expect from all our officers and the Met’s determination to improve our culture across the organisation”. He added that the force would continue to support the ongoing IOPC investigation. IOPC Director of Engagement Amanda Rowe said of the wider case: “We were all extremely concerned and appalled by some of the abhorrent conduct shown in the BBC documentary”, adding that “the public would expect that those responsible are rooted out swiftly”.

Current Status

Mason O’Connor is no longer a serving police officer. His dismissal took effect following the accelerated misconduct hearing announced on 15 September 2026, and he has been placed on the police barred list — in the Met’s wording, both he and Hunter are to be added to the College of Policing’s barred list, preventing them from rejoining policing or working for a number of other police-related bodies. The wider investigation that caught him remains active: the IOPC has investigated 30 officers and staff in total, all 15 who faced accelerated hearings were found to have committed gross misconduct, all but one — a former PC — are barred, three of those dismissed held the supervisory rank of sergeant, and investigations continue into the conduct of a further 15 officers or police staff, including eight active investigations, two of them criminal (one into officers allegedly perverting the course of justice, one into alleged excessive force). “This is one of our largest ever investigations in terms of the number of officers investigated,” Rowe said, “and the sheer number of fast-tracked disciplinary proceedings show how seriously the IOPC and the Met, who held the misconduct hearings, are treating this matter.” The IOPC also confirmed that misconduct had been identified from BBC footage never included in the Panorama broadcast, and that a designated detention officer from Charing Cross was due to face a gross misconduct hearing over recorded comments about people in custody.

Impact on Their Career/Life

For O’Connor, the career cost was total and immediate. A single off-duty comment, made in a pub nearly a year before it caught up with him through a witness appeal, ended his employment with the Metropolitan Police and, through the barred list, closed the door on rejoining any police force in Britain or working for a range of police-related bodies. Because his was an accelerated hearing on incontrovertible evidence, there was no route back: a gross misconduct finding with dismissal without notice and barring is the most severe non-criminal outcome the misconduct system can produce. His name is now permanently attached to one of the largest police misconduct scandals in the Met’s modern history, recorded both in the IOPC’s published list of the 15 officers found to have committed gross misconduct and in the Met’s running count of dismissals. The Met framed the dismissals as a cultural turning point, with Commander Messinger saying he hoped the message about expected standards would reach “all our officers” as the force works to improve its culture across the organisation. No details of O’Connor’s personal circumstances, plans or response to his dismissal were reported in the coverage.

Sources

Independent Office for Police Conduct, “Charing Cross: 15 officers committed gross misconduct, 15 more under investigation” — source
Metropolitan Police, “Two more officers dismissed over Charing Cross conduct” — source
The Guardian, “Thirteenth Met police officer sacked after undercover BBC investigation” — source
BBC News, “Thirteenth Met Police officer sacked after Charing Cross Panorama film” — source
The Independent, “Another Met officer dismissed after BBC Panorama investigation into Charing Cross scandal” — source