Met Police officer who sexual assaulted child at party is jailed

PC Farhan Ghadiali, of Woodford Green, Essex, sexually assaulted the girl while off duty in 2019.

The 44-year-old, who has since been dismissed without notice, was found guilty of sexual assaulting a child under the age of 13 following an earlier trial at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Kate Davey, prosecuting, said that the girl had been “traumatised at every level”, “cries a lot, she’s very scared” and has “self-harmed because of this”.

She told a hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court on Wednesday that Ghadiali, who had no previous convictions, “had been drinking heavily that day”.

Orla Davy, mitigating, said: “This was absolutely a one-off incident.

“It was a brief incident and it was an incident of touching over the victim’s clothing.”

Judge Christopher Morgan told Ghadiali: “This was a serious offence against a very young child.”

He said that the offence had “caused her profound psychological issues”.

The judge said that Ghadiali’s conviction had brought his police career to an end, adding: “You may find it very difficult to find employment in future.”

He sentenced Ghadiali to 30 months in prison and made him subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

The defendant showed no visible reaction as he was led to the cells.

Ghadiali, who was attached to the Central West Command Unit, had been suspended from duty since December 2020, the Met said.

He was dismissed without notice after a misconduct hearing earlier this month found that allegations against him were proven as gross misconduct.

Chief Superintendent Louise Puddefoot, Central West Command Unit, said at the time: “Pc Ghadiali was found guilty of an extremely serious offence.

“If the Met is to secure both the confidence and trust of the public we need to better protect our integrity by rooting out those that are not fit to serve, such as this individual who today has been dismissed.

“We are putting more resources into investigating allegations of such misconduct.”