British Transport Police sergeant’s four-letter race jibe on ex-partner when suntan made her skin darker
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A racist British Transport Police officer who belittled, controlled and intimidated two ex-partners would have been fired had he not resigned, a misconduct hearing has found. Sergeant Ian Koch, based in central London, used “repugnant” language towards one woman.
In text messages, he frequently called her a “p***” between 2018 and 2020, a gross misconduct panel heard. The witness – known only as Ms A – also said he’d label her a “c***” because her skin darkened when exposed to the sun. Koch would also “degrade and humiliate” her during an unusual practice in the bath.
Ms A told how the officer forced her to send an email to a work supervisor in which she referred to herself as a “whore” for kissing a colleague. He would call her “retarded”, “stinky” and a “cold-hearted b****”. A second woman – Ms B – said Koch engaged in the same demeaning acts when she was in the shower or bath and subjected her to name-calling with “racial undertones”.
For example, she was known as an “egg” – part of a highly offensive Cockney rhyming slang for a black person. Nicknaming Ms B as “Flabby”, he pointed to the underneath of her arms and sent her links to clothes she should be wearing. Koch was also in the habit of pulling down both women’s trousers in public, it was said.