Met Police officer is jailed for sexually assaulting colleague

Met Police officer is jailed for 16 months for sexually assaulting colleague while they were both on duty

• Pc Archit Sharmer  sexually assaulted a colleague on December 7,  2020 
• Sharmer resigned from the Met Police four days after his conviction on March 6 

A Metropolitan Police officer who sexually assaulted a colleague while they were both on duty has been jailed for 16 months. 

Pc Archit Sharmer, who was with the North Area Command,  was accused of attacking his colleague on December 7, 2020. 

He was convicted of sexual assault on March 6, at Wood Green Crown Court and resigned from the force four days later. 

As well as the 16-month jail term, Sharmer was told he must sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years. He was also handed a restraining order which prevents him from contacting his victim for a decade. convicted of sexually assaulting his colleague on March 6. 

Wood Green Crown Court also ordered Sharmer to pay a victim surcharge of £156 when he was sent down on Friday. 

He is the latest in a line of Met Police officers to have been convicted of sex offences.  

Pc Archit Sharma, pictured, sexually assaulted a colleague while they were both on duty on December 7, 2020. He remained a Met Police officer until his resignation in March 2023, four days after his conviction at Wood Green Crown Court

A misconduct hearing held earlier this week found that Sharma would have been sacked had he not already resigned following his conviction

After Scotland Yard received the allegation on December 7, 2000, he was investigated and charged on July 28, 2021, however he had to wait until March 6 to appear in court. He only resigned from the force some two years after the initial allegation was made. 

Sharma also faced a misconduct hearing where he was found to have breached ‘Standards of Professional Behaviour in relation to Authority, Respect and Courtesy, and Discreditable Conduct’. 

CLICK TO READ MORE: Police forces urged to share information about officers under investigation after Wayne Couzens’ case

The panel said Sharma would have been sacked had he not resigned in March. 

He has also been added to the Barred List held by the College of Policing, meaning he will not be eligible to rejoin the police or the fire service as well as a host of police-related bodies.  

Detective Chief Superintendent Caroline Haines, responsible for local policing in Enfield and Haringey, said: ‘Former PC Sharma’s behaviour was abhorrent. His actions were a betrayal of our policing values.

‘I hope that this outcome highlights how seriously we take reports of sexual offences, no matter who the perpetrator.

‘Following his conviction, we began proceedings for an accelerated case hearing which has upheld the allegations of misconduct.’

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) says a national system should be introduced after reviews into the Met’s handling of two allegations of indecent exposure by Couzens in 2021 and Kent Police’s handling of a similar allegation in 2015.

Couzens would go on to kidnap, rape and murder Sarah Everard three days after the Met was informed he had allegedly indecently exposed himself in a McDonald’s in Swanley in February 2021.

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