PC sent racist messages in chat with sex offender

A police officer who sent racist and misogynistic messages in a group chat with a sex offender has been barred from the profession.

Former PC Jordan Foulkes, who served with Thames Valley Police in Bicester, Oxfordshire, shared the "highly offensive" messages between October 2023 and January 2024, a misconduct panel heard.

It also found he misled the force about his knowledge of a man in the group, who had been convicted of making indecent images of children and placed on the sex offenders register.

The panel found Foulkes was guilty of gross misconduct and would have been dismissed had he not resigned in February.

The accelerated misconduct hearing was told the messages included racist, sexist and misogynistic comments, some of which referenced his role as a police officer.

The panel heard the group chat took place over several months and involved multiple participants, including the man who had been convicted of four counts of making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children in 2023.

The unnamed man, who Foulkes had known since school, was also arrested on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children in 2024 and his phone was seized.

Evidence from the phone showed Foulkes was aware of the man's status as a registered sex offender earlier than he had claimed when speaking to vetting officers.

He told the force he had only learned of the offending in October 2024, but investigators found references to it within the group chat dating back to October 2023.

The panel concluded this amounted to a deliberate act of dishonesty, and said his conduct had been intentional and incompatible with the standards expected of a police officer.

It found he had breached standards including honesty and integrity, equality and diversity, and discreditable conduct.

Foulkes will now be placed on the national barred list, preventing him from working in policing in the future.

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