A police officer who drank and carried a knuckleduster with him while on duty has been fired.

Detective Constable Mark Eve, who was based in Romford, was found guilty of misconduct over a series of breaches, including a routine use of racist language in face-to-face conversations and WhatsApp chats.

He was also found to have tampered with evidence in a burglary case in 2015, and to have copied a personal photo from a female colleague's phone and shared it with another officer.

The Metropolitan Police officer was found guilty of gross misconduct over all of these claims.

Allegations of possessing two offensive weapons, interviewing a suspect at his home without the authority to do so, carrying out surveillance without the permission required and drinking while on duty were also investigated


The detective was found guilty of misconduct over these claims.

An allegation of storing pornographic images on his work mobile phone was not proven, the force said.

Concerns were first raised by colleagues over his behaviour, that included drinking alcohol and carrying a knuckleduster while on duty.

He was sacked on Friday without notice after a hearing which lasted a week.

The officer had been suspended from duty while the investigation was taking place by the Metropolitan Police disciplinary panel.

This followed an investigation by the police watchdog that ended in November 2017.

Sal Naseem, from the Independent Office for Police Conduct, said: "This sort of behaviour serves only to undermine public confidence in policing and the hard work and endeavour of serving officers.

"Indeed, it was serving officers who came forward to report DC Eve's unacceptable behaviour. This is to be commended as this led to our investigation and ultimately his dismissal by the panel."