A police officer who was first on the scene of the 2017 London Bridge terror attack has been sacked for gross misconduct after using “derogatory” language about Roma, Gypsies and pilgrims.
DC Mark Luker of the British Transport Police (BTP) used offensive language in a WhatsApp group with other police officers.
In a WhatsApp conversation on 31 December 2024 about someone winning a bottle of whiskey with a security tag, Luker wrote: “Is it a lottery on a certain type of site? Too many mobile type homes? Too many ‘dogs'”. Then he said: “You are the liaison to MSOC.”
During the tribunal the misconduct panel concluded that these were “deliberate messages that clearly link the Irish traveler community to acts of theft”.
The word “dogs” is thought to be a reference to a scene in the Guy Ritchie film Snatch, in which Brad Pitt plays a gypsy. During the scene, Stephen Graham’s character struggles to understand Pitt’s accent when he says “dogs”. The panel found the term “derogatory” as it refers to a context in which a gypsy character’s accent is “mocked”.
Luker was a member of a WhatsApp group called “Selby Gumshoes” along with other members of the Major Serious and Organized Crime (MSOC) team.
In another WhatsApp conversation on 17 March 2025, Luker wrote: “Off to find some scrap metal, lead roofing and cable”, in response to another group member’s video of “Paddy Day Parade in Inishboffin” “Just like a Disney World parade. They know how to put on a show”.
The panel said Luker’s message was “deliberate and discriminatory” because it linked the Gypsy, Roma and Traveler community to theft.
He used the word “Pikey” again in messages sent on 27 March 2025.
During the tribunal, the panel heard Looker admitted the theft of “scrap metal, lead roofing and cable” was a joke to associate him with the Irish traveler community, but he did not intend the word “pike” in the messages to be offensive.
Luker was one of the first responders to the terrorist attack on London Bridge on 3 June 2017. He says that one of his coping mechanisms to deal with the day is to use humor.
The panel concluded that DC Looker was not “inherently racist”.
“The panel found that as an experienced BTP police officer used to dealing with a whole range of people, on the balance of probabilities he would probably have known that this was a particularly offensive use of language directed at members of the minority community,” the panel wrote.
