Met officer who reposted meme comparing The Little Mermaid star Halle Bailey to slave resigns

A Metropolitan Police officer found guilty of gross misconduct after "offensive and inflammatory" social media posts resigned before his hearing.

But the panel, which said PC Jonah Dusauzay, 28, would have been given a final writing warning had he remained in the force, decided against taking disciplinary action.

The misconduct proceedings were held after three police officers reported Dusauzay's social media activity, which they found contained derogatory comments relating to gender, disability and race.

Among them was a reposted image of actress Halle Bailey performing in The Little Mermaid alongside white actor Jonah Hauer-King, with the caption: "She looks like he just brought her from the auction."

Dusauzay, who is of mixed St Lucian heritage, denied accusations of racism but admitted misconduct.

In another X post, Dusauzay made body-shaming comments about Jorja Smith, writing that the popstar “is still fine. I go through phases of being a fat bastard too. Nothing a couple months in the gym won’t fix."

Another tweet, posted when Drag Queen Story Hour UK launched in 2020, which sees drag queens read to children aged between three and 11, read: "A grown man has no business doing drag shows for kids. Nonce behaviour."

The panel ruled that the use of the word "nonce" was "offensive and inflammatory" and created a "risk of disorder or acts of violence directed at drag artists."

Dusauzay also published the comment "Germany is gay" on a video of the Eurovision Song Contest in which Germany was depicted with a Pride flag and reposted an image of a man about to lift heavy weights with the text: "If I don't lift this I'm gay and my whole family dies."

Dusauzay claimed that his Germany post was a "joke" but admitted his comments about weight-lifting had "potential to cause offence."

Commander Katie Lilburn, chairing the disciplinary panel, said: "When taken together the explanations for the postings offered by the Former Officer in some cases amount to no more than an attempt to mitigate but, more generally, are in fact bogus attempts to try to explain away conduct that he always knew to be improper."

Ms Lilburn found Dusauzay had shown "genuine remorse and reflection" but "failed short of taking full responsibility."

She added that he had offered a full apology to those affected.

Dusauzay resigned from the Met on Thursday, May 22 after the misconduct process was triggered.