A METROPOLITAN Police officer from Cumbria has been sacked after saying he wanted to taser a homeless man.
Pc Lloyd Hunter, who is from Cumbria, was dismissed from the Metropolitan Police without notice after a misconduct hearing in Sutton, south London.
The hearing was told that Pc Hunter made the comments while drinking with an undercover BBC journalist in Earl’s Court in November 2024. He was 23 at the time and had recently completed his taser training.
Pc Hunter told the journalist: “I cannot wait to do it, I love it.” When asked who he would taser first, he replied: “probably a homeless man”.
He also said he wanted to arrest all homeless people in Oxford Street each week, using orders and notices which would result in them being sent to prison.
Pc Hunter said: “I think we should get rid of them, we should just bin them off, I hate them.”
The conversation was secretly recorded by Rory Bibb, a BBC Panorama journalist who spent seven months working as a detention officer at Charing Cross police station.
Pc Hunter did not appear in the programme, which was broadcast in October 2025. However, the BBC later shared footage which had not been broadcast with the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
An accelerated misconduct hearing took place at Sutton on Wednesday, August 25. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Carl Galvin ruled that Pc Hunter’s behaviour amounted to gross misconduct.
The decision means Pc Hunter is barred from returning to policing.
Stephen Morley, who presented the case against Pc Hunter, said the officer should have been setting a high standard but “failed dismally” with his “vile comments”.
He said the comments would “horrify” members of the public, especially homeless people who may already be vulnerable.
Pc Hunter gave evidence during the hearing and apologised for what he had said. He described the comments as “abhorrent”.
Pc Hunter said it felt like an “avalanche hitting” when he was suspended. He added: “I always wanted to be a police officer.”
He told the hearing that he had responded to “ridiculous comments” from the BBC journalist because he wanted to make friends.
Pc Hunter said he did not have many friends at Charing Cross.
Pc Hunter said the remarks were “flippant remarks from an idiotic 23-year-old who just wanted to make friends with someone”.
He also said he had never used his taser during his 21 months as a police officer.
Since returning to Cumbria, he has volunteered with the Samaritans to help homeless people and sought to educate himself.
Luke Ponte KC, representing Pc Hunter, asked who in the room had not, in their early 20s, “said anything in the pub that in the cold light of day they realise they should not have said”.
Mr Ponte said the comments showed “immaturity rather than bigotry”. He argued that Pc Hunter had a “miserable time” because of the culture at Charing Cross.
He also said it was unusual in misconduct cases for behaviour to have “to some degree been provoked by the actions of an undercover reporter”.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Galvin accepted that Pc Hunter had not responded to many of the journalist’s inflammatory comments. At the start of the conversation, he had said he would not want to use a taser.
However, Mr Galvin said the remarks lacked the “self-control, tolerance, respect and courtesy required of officers”. He ruled that they revealed “derogatory views”.
Pc Hunter is the 13th officer to be dismissed following the investigation. Since the Panorama programme, 12 Metropolitan Police officers and one Gloucestershire officer have faced that outcome.
The IOPC said nine investigations involving more than 10 officers remain active. Three of those investigations are criminal cases.
Amanda Rowe, IOPC director of engagement, said: “Regardless of whether these comments were made on or off-duty, they are completely unacceptable and undermine the public’s confidence in police officers.”
She added: “We continue to work hard to ensure that officers whose behaviour falls far below what the public deserve and expect are held to account and swift action is taken, to ensure they are removed from policing.”
The Panorama programme followed an IOPC investigation in 2022, which found evidence of misogyny, homophobia and sexual harassment at Charing Cross police station. Officers were also recorded joking about rape.
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