A local police officer nicknamed "creepy Campbell" has been sacked after sending anonymous texts to a junior female officer asking for sex. 

A police misconduct panel found PC Alex Campbell had committed gross misconduct by inappropriately messaging two junior female officers he worked with.

Campbell, who worked with Clapham's local policing team, bought a supermarket burner phone to avoid linking texts he sent to one of the junior officers to his name, a Met Police misconduct hearing on May 4 heard. 

Texts he sent the officer, known only as PC C, from the phone included: "Hi sexy, are you loyal to your fella or do you consider other options?" and "Wondered if I could hook up with you?"

When PC C demanded the sender reveal his identity, he texted her saying he had "opened a can of worms" and informed her she could block him if she wanted. 

PC C began to suspect Campbell was the anonymous sender when he messaged her asking if she fancied his wife shortly after PC C worked a shift with her. 

She subsequently confronted Campbell, asking if he was behind the anonymous texts. At first, he denied any knowledge but later admitted to being the sender after PC C pressed him on the matter. 

Campbell apologised but PC C noted he appeared to be smirking at her. PC C subsequently reported him to senior officers. 

Campbell's messages to the other junior officer, known only as PC A, were sent off his own number, the hearing heard. The texts started off friendly but later became sexual in nature. In one message, he wrote: "Missed your sexy little body these last 10 days." 

PC A told Campbell she didn't mind a bit of banter, but reminded him they were both in relationships. Later Campbell texted PC A telling her that he didn't want to get her into "trouble" with her "fella." On another occasion PC Campbell commented on PC A's legs after she had climbed on a table to change a rota board, the hearing heard. 

In a witness statement given before the hearing, PC A said Campbell's comments about missing her "sexy body" made her feel "degraded" and she tried to avoid working with him after he made the remarks.

PC A initially didn't report Campbell's behaviour, saying she feared being labelled a "snitch" by colleagues, but said the case of Wayne Couzens, a serving Met Police officer who kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard in March 2021, motivated her to pursue the matter further. 

PC Campbell admitted sending inappropriate sexual messages to PC A and PC C from the beginning of the hearing. A third allegation of sexual assault made against PC Campbell by a third officer, known only as "PC B" was found not to be proven by the panel. 

Under cross examination, PC B admitted that Campbell's nickname of "creepy Campbell," given to him by colleagues, might have influenced her reading of his behaviour. 

Following the panel's verdict of gross misconduct, PC Campbell apologised for his behaviour again. He told the panel: "I said to them I am sorry for everything… I don't know how I can show I am sorry any more. I tried my best to never see them and cause them any more distress."

His legal representative Guy Ladenburg asked the panel to consider issuing PC Campbell with the lesser punishment of a final written warning, noting that Campbell had "no previous record of misconduct or inappropriate behaviour" in his 17 years in the police. 

But Maurice Cohen, chair of the misconduct panel, said Campbell's behaviour had caused "significant emotional and psychological harm" to PC A and PC C, as well as "potential reputational harm" to the force. He said that the public would be "appalled to hear of the actions of a long-standing" officer.

Cohen added that "long-standing issues in the police service" meant dismissal without notice was the "the only outcome which is proportionate and appropriate" in Campbell's case.