Merseyside firearms officer's Whatsapp message 'was homophobic' says colleague

Wesley Holmes

14 May 2024 at 0:47 pm·2-min read

A Merseyside Police firearms officer sent "homophobic and racist" WhatsApp messages to a colleague, who responded with a "facepalm" emoji.

On March 12 2019, PC Daniel Johnson sent a fellow officer a WhatsApp message describing two senior colleagues by a homophobic slur. On May 2 that same year, he sent the same officer a picture of a woman in traditional Islamic clothing on a fairground ride, along with the words "detonator bombs away".

Giving evidence at a misconduct hearing at Merseyside Police HQ today, May 14, the officer, known only as Officer A, said he believed the messages were both homophobic and racist.

The panel heard that, on March 12 2019, PC Johnson had messaged Officer A complaining about two other firearms department officers who had been promoted, calling them "two p**** together". Officer A responded "FFS" (for f***'s sake).

When asked by Merseyside Police barrister Barney Branston how he interpreted the message, Officer A said: "As I can see it, it appears to be homophobic." This was backed up by an earlier statement provided in an interview, when Officer A described PC Johnson's words as "a homophobic slur".

Barrister Ben Summers, representing PC Johnson, said Officer A had himself been called into a misconduct interview regarding the message, which had been described in that meeting as being homophobic.

He said: "The circumstances were you have been told at the very outset that the officers regard the content of the message as homophobia and that you were under investigation for failing to challenge what they regarded as homophobic. It's only natural for you to agree with them that it was homophobic. In the context, you weren't going to challenge their interpretation, were you?"

Officer A replied: "If I believed something wasn't right, I would have given my view on the matter." When asked by Mr Summers why he did not challenge PC Johnson at the time, he said: "With the benefit of hindsight, I should have challenged it."

Referring to the picture of the Muslim woman sent by PC Johnson, Officer A said: "Clearly it's an ignorant racial stereotype". The panel heard that, after being sent the image, Officer A responded with two emojis of a man covering his face with his hand.

Mr Summers told the panel both PC Johnson and Officer A were ex-servicemen, adding: "As an ex-serviceman yourself, that would have had particular poignancy, wouldn't it?"

Officer A replied: "No, I don't believe it would."

PC Johnson, 43, is also accused of a string of other unacceptable acts amounting to serious misconduct, including drinking alcohol in a pub during an on-call shift and stealing from his employer. He admits throwing an illegal house party in celebration of his 40th birthday on June 30 2020, breaching Covid-19 restrictions.

The hearing continues.

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