Metropolitan Police officer caught filming woman in changing room of clothes shop

A misconduct panel concluded that Chaudhry would have been dismissed without notice had he not already resigned.

The former PC was arrested at the scene and suspended from duty, with detectives launching an investigation.

A Metropolitan Police officer was filming a woman as she was getting changed in a Wandsworth clothes shop. Police were called to South Side Shopping Centre just before 5 pm on March 30th, finding 36-year-old PC Swaleh Chaudhry shooting the video. Although he was off duty at that moment, Chaudhry was serving for the force and was attached to the Metropolitan Police’s Taskforce.

The PC was arrested at the scene and suspended from duty, with detectives launching an investigation. He pleaded guilty at Wimbledon Magistrates Court on April 1st and will be sentenced on July 29th.

Chaudhry was subject to a misconduct hearing following his conviction for voyeurism and other offences in March 2022. The hearing, held on Tuesday, May 31st, found that he had breached the standards of professional behaviour about discreditable conduct. Had the former PC not already resigned in April 2022, the panel concluded he would have been dismissed without notice.

Chaudhry will now be placed on the “barred list” held by the College of Policing. Those appearing on the list cannot be employed by police, Police and Crime Commissioners, the Independent Office for Police Conduct or Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services.

Commander Kyle Gordon said: “Former PC Chaudhry has been held to account via the courts and now through the Metropolitan Police’s misconduct proceedings. As a result, he will now be barred from joining any other UK police force. Former PC Chaudhry behaved in a thoroughly reprehensible way, and the Metropolitan Police has no place for officers who behave as he has.”