Council Leader Welcomes Jail Sentences for Racist Police Officers


Pair shared negative messages about Hounslow on WhatsApp group

Councillor Shantanu Rajawat
Councillor Shantanu Rajawat

The Leader of Hounslow Council, Councillor Shantanu Rajawat, has welcomed the handing out of jail sentence for two local police officers who shared racist, sexist, Islamophobic and homophobic messages.

In a WhatsApp group ‘Bottle and Stoppers’, that rapist and murderer Wayne Couzens was also a member of, they made a number of negative comments about Hounslow when they were posted to work there including calling it ‘a Somali s***hole’.

35-year-old PC Jonathon Cobban, and ex-PC Joel Borders, 45, were found guilty of the communications offences in September but given prison terms this Wednesday (2 November).

Cobban and Borders, who were both attached to the West Area Command Unit which serves Hounslow and Ealing, were found guilty of three counts of sending grossly offensive messages on a public communications network contrary to S127 of the Communications Act 2003 and sentenced to 12 weeks’ imprisonment.

They had been charged with sending the messages in 2019 following an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

They were immediately released on bail pending appeal.

Councillor Shantanu Rajawat said, “We welcome the news of the sentencing of the police officers in relation to grossly offensive WhatsApp messages being sent by them, including some referencing Hounslow and its communities.

“Racism, and misogyny have no place anywhere in a civilised society, let alone within the ranks of those sworn to protect and serve. Misconduct by police officers is completely unacceptable.

“We want everyone to feel safe in our borough and are engaging with senior police officers to understand the steps being taken to root out this sort of toxic culture from within police ranks.

“I also feel sure that the vast majority of police officers in Hounslow are hard-working, decent people who will be deeply offended by the conduct of these officers.”

Cobban and Borders made jokes about tasering children, the disabled and animals leading the judge at their trial to say, "They encapsulated the full range of prejudiced views, racism, misogyny, ableism and homophobia.

"The persons to whom these messages relate will undoubtedly been caused great distress by knowing police officers find it funny to joke about them in such a deeply offensive manner.

"Significant harm has undoubtedly been caused to public confidence in policing as a result of these offences."

Their defence had been that this had been dark humour or banter and was never made to be taken seriously.

Commander Jon Savell, said, “I speak for all of the Met when I say I’m appalled at the disgusting messages. I am deeply sorry these officers have let down the public, and their Met colleagues, with their vile language and behaviour. We welcome the sentence and it should serve as a reminder that we will investigate and work with the IOPC and CPS to prosecute any of our officers who break the law in this way.

“Our officers swear an oath to accord all people respect and we demand the highest standards of conduct from them. Those who corrupt us with unacceptable attitudes, language, and prejudices will be sought out and dealt with in the strongest possible terms.”

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chNovember 3, 2022. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.

 

November 3, 2022