A Metropolitan Police officer has been sacked as she assaulted a man after a night out in Greenwich. 

PC Laura Seal was on a night out with colleagues at Bomb Bar and Hollywood Bowl in Greenwich before heading to Zebrano nightclub in Soho at around 11pm. 

While they danced in a circle in the club a man approached them and tried to join in. 

When none of the officers wanted to dance with the man he is alleged to have called them  “ugly trolls” and said “I can do what I want to women”. He denies using this language. 

After words were exchanged PC Seal grabbed him by the back of his collar using her right hand before placing her left arm around his neck in a headlock and then dragged him to the floor. 

PC Seal claimed she did this because she was concerned that his unwanted behaviour would progress onto a sexual assault. 

But last Friday (April 12, 2024) a misconduct panel said it was “implausible” that she genuinely believed his behaviour was going to progress onto a sexual assault. 

The misconduct hearing concluded with PC Seal being dismissed without notice. 

‘I just lost it' 

PC Seal was interview under caution on the day of the incident - April 6, 2022. 

She gave a prepared statement claiming that she took physical action as she was concerned that his unwanted behaviour could progress onto sexual assault. 

PC Seal claimed to have seen his “overly persistent” and “unwanted” advances on other women in the club before he came to their group and began dancing in a “grinding manner”. 

PC Seal said: “I therefore told him to leave as none of us were interested. I explained that if he continued, I would notify security and he would be escorted out. I was concerned at this point his unwanted behaviour could progress onto sexual assault. 

“Upon telling him this, he initially presented as defensive saying, there’s no need to call security, however, he continued to spout misogynistic content and words to the effect of he could do whatever he chose with any of the females present and I could do nothing about it. 

“I felt threatened by this and as he turned to exit the venue, I immediately remembered my friends outside in the smoking area. I assumed that he would approach them, and I feared what he might do. 

“From his demeanour and words, I suspected that sexual assault could have been a possibility. I therefore grabbed him and pulled him to the floor, in order to subdue him and prevent harm to my friends outside.” 

The man denied using inappropriate language or dancing in a “grinding” fashion. 

The misconduct panel found it “more likely than not” that the man said hurtful or misogynistic things to PC Seal. 

But they said: “Taken at its height it is inherently implausible that she genuinely and/or honestly held the belief that his behaviour was going to progress onto a sexual assault against her and/or her colleagues outside.” 

They continued: “The only reasonable and logical conclusion to draw from the evidence is that the officer used force not because of any genuine belief that she was concerned that PA would progress onto a sexual assault but because as she said to PC Alex Woloszyn ‘I don’t know, I just lost it, I just pushed him away’. 

“The Panel finds that the officer therefore knew from the outset that the reasons for her actions towards PA was that she had lost her temper.”