Smirking Met Police Sergeant poked female PC's bottom with vape pen
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A Metropolitan Police sergeant resigned in disgrace after poking a female colleague’s bottom with a vape pen and subjecting her to a slew of sexually charged remarks. Ian Bargus told the PC to not wear tight trousers to work as he would get a “boner”, and asked her to give him a back massage in front of colleagues.
A misconduct hearing was told Bargus said to his fellow officer: “I know what you need. A strong experienced man like me who can give you a good time”, and later remarked: “So what are we going to do about this sexual tension?”. He was also found to have mimicked the PC’s accent, asked if she had “overstayed” in the UK, and suggested her degree from Romania was “equivalent to toilet paper”.
Bargus, who was a Sergeant in the Met’s East Area Command Unit, took early retirement from the force before he could face a misconduct hearing. A panel concluded that the allegations against him were proven, and if still serving he would have been sacked.
The tribunal heard Bargus had a habit while on duty of commenting on the attractiveness of female colleagues and members of the public. One male colleague called his behaviour “loads of tongue-in-cheek innuendo stuff”, while a female PC said Bargus would say “she would get it” as they drove past women in their patrol car.
The tribunal found there was a “sea of evidence” against Bargus, while the former Sergeant’s own explanations were sometimes “highly implausible”. The first incident happened at the Jack Brown House patrol base in Romford in May 2020, as the female officer – referred to as PC A – walked up the stairs ahead of Bargus.
