A former celebrity police officer has been found guilty of misconduct after fostering a “toxic” WhatsApp culture that embroiled a dozen colleagues in disciplinary proceedings, the Old Bailey heard.
Ex-Cambridgeshire Police sergeant Paul Street, 41, was convicted of two charges of misconduct in public office following a trial before Judge Mark Lucraft KC. The jury cleared him of assaulting a drug dealer during an arrest and perverting the course of justice. He was remanded into custody and will be sentenced on July 30.
Street had led the southern Neighbourhood Impact Team at Cambourne Police Station, a unit focused on county lines drug supply and organised crime. Known within the force for a “robust” style that delivered “impressive results”, he also found fame on television, appearing on the BBC’s Britain’s Teenage Drug Runners in 2017 and Channel 4’s Famous And Fighting Crime in 2019.
The toxic WhatsApp culture
The case against Street centred on two WhatsApp groups he created — one including 17 colleagues and a second for his “inner circle”. Anti-corruption officers uncovered the groups in 2021 after a new police officer reported him.
Prosecutor Anne Whyte KC told jurors Street had “created a culture of bragging and intolerance towards suspects” and a “zero-tolerance attitude to anyone on his team who disagreed with his methods and sentiments”. The chat messages, she said, set the tone for junior officers to follow, making regular references to bullying suspects.
In April 2020, Street called on his team to “bully” a 17-year-old detainee, Robiul Islam, writing messages such as “please hit him” and “smash his head in”. He also filmed and shared a video of himself using offensive language and making threats intended for the child.
Later that year, colleague PC Josh Williams was examining the phone of a female suspect he described as “quite fit”. Street asked Williams if there were “any nudes”. Williams replied there was a video of the woman committing a sexual act and subsequently sent Street a photograph from her phone showing her in underwear. The following year, Street asked Williams if he still had the intimate video because he wanted to show it to “the lads from footy”.
When interviewed, Street claimed he wanted to see the images to reassure himself the woman — who was released without charge — was not a victim of exploitative behaviour. The prosecution rejected this, arguing it was not Williams’s or Street’s job to request or share private material. “He broke the rules repeatedly,” Ms Whyte said, “and chose to ignore the fact that in doing so, he was not just dishonouring the trust that the public should have in the police, but he was behaving precisely like the criminals he loved to despise.”
Street had also previously admitted two offences of unlawful disclosure of personal data relating to information and screenshots he sent to his partner in 2020.
Giving evidence, Street acknowledged his messages were “poor” and “abusive” but described the language as “gallows humour”. He told jurors: “That was part of the culture at the time. I am not solely responsible for that. I was successful in my job and it did make me arrogant.”
Judge Lucraft observed that the general public would be “shocked” to learn of the full extent of Street’s actions.
Impact on other officers
The investigation into Street’s conduct led to 12 other officers being investigated. PC Josh Williams, 38, of Huntingdon, pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office. He was dismissed without notice and placed on the College of Policing barred list. The court heard Williams sent Street the sensitive material from the suspect’s phone and described the intimate video.
Of the remaining 11 officers investigated, the force confirmed that two resigned, one was dismissed for gross misconduct, one received a final warning for gross misconduct, two received written warnings, and five were dealt with for low-level performance issues.
Further details from misconduct proceedings showed PC Steve Girdlestone was dismissed without notice for gross misconduct over discriminatory and derogatory language in WhatsApp messages. PC Amandea Dowd received a final warning for sharing images of an injured child and adult. PC Alex Oliver and PC Dan Scott received written warnings for messages about the youth detainee and offensive comments. PC Tom Carden resigned while facing disciplinary action for failing to challenge or report improper conduct and messages about the youth detainee.
Chief Constable Simon Megicks of Cambridgeshire Constabulary described the behaviour of the officers as “truly disgraceful” and said it does not reflect the high standards expected. He commended the officer who reported Street, adding that criminal behaviour and failure to uphold policing standards will not be condoned.
The investigation was directed by the Independent Office for Police Conduct and carried out by the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire professional standards department.
