By Lucy Caulkett-
A former Metropolitan Police officer has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a teenage boy, Grant Fulker,(pictured) who was a former Met volunteer cadet leader, was dismissed from the force in 2024 after an investigation launched into his action.
The 32-year-old) was convicted today (January 9) at Southwark Crown Court of sexual assault and attempted sexual assault.
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Fulker abused his position of trust as cadet leader and carried the offences on February 12 into February 13, 2024, on the boy in a hotel room in Heathrow.
He pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to three counts of misconduct in public office, for sending sexualised WhatsApp messages to the victim and another teen boy, while performing his role as a cadet leader.
He was dismissed without notice and placed on the College of Policing’s barred list, banning him from employment with the police, local policing bodies, the Independent Office for Police Conduct or His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services.
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He will be sentenced on February 27.
Commander Pete Stevens said: “The actions of former PC Fulker were despicable, he abused his position of trust as a cadet leader to take advantage of these boys in the most appalling way.
“I am extremely grateful to the boys for coming forward and reporting them so we could launch an immediate investigation. This meant former PC Fulker was swiftly arrested and charged and just a month later dismissed from the Met.
“Our volunteer police cadets do an amazing job and we recently restructured our programme to reduce the number of cadets in the scheme, the age range, and some of the activities involved.
“Since these allegations came to light we have fully inspected all volunteer police cadet units across
London to ensure they are operating in line with correct policies and safeguarding practices.”
The news comes at a time when the Met is struggling to improve confidence in its reputation, having only recently published fresh vetting procedures for recruiting police staff.
Only 24 hours ago, another former Metropolitan officer was found guilty in a misconduct hearing of creating fake Instagram accounts to send unwanted, sexually motivated messages to a string of women including those he had met at school and university, a misconduct panel has found.
PC Joss Astley sent unwanted messages to 11 women using fake accounts between 2014 and 2020 which amounted to stalking and harassment, according to a Met Police misconduct panel. But criminal charges to those offences were dropped in court for technical reasons.
Sexual impropriety in the police force is nothing new.
A 2023 investigation by The Bureau Investigates (TBIJ) found that 500 officers were reported for sexual assault and over 300 for rape. The investigation noted that only 10 of those accused of sexual assault had been convicted at that time, and the majority were still working.
A Sky News investigation covering the three years following Sarah Everard’s murder found that at least 9 officers were convicted of rape or sexual assault across the 19 forces that provided data (out of 48 forces in total), indicating the true number is likely much higher.
A Freedom of Information(FOI) response from the Metropolitan Police (MPS) also showed that 26 MPS officers were convicted of a sexual offence during this period.
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