A black firearms officer who was once Scotland Yard's Olympics security poster girl was bullied by an officer who spied on her through CCTV and Facebook, a tribunal heard yesterday.
Carol Howard, 34, is suing the Metropolitan Police for racial and sexual discrimination, claiming she was intimidated by an 'aggressive' inspector.
She said he had once 'scolded' her in front of other senior officers while he was armed with a Taser and a handgun, reducing her to tears.
Yesterday Miss Howard cut a glamorous figure as she arrived at the Central London Employment Tribunal.
The elite Diplomatic Protection Group officer, who helped safeguard London from terror attacks during the 2012 Games, claims she was picked on by a supervisor who monitored her Facebook account where she had posted images of herself in a bikini.
The tribunal heard that Acting Inspector Dave Kelly also spied on her through CCTV.
Miss Howard was thrust into the spotlight in 2012 when the Met chose her to be a poster girl for a magazine feature on the 10,000 men and women on duty during the Olympics.
But yesterday the hearing was told that behind the scenes she was often seen in tears by colleagues.
PC Gary Flaherty, who worked with her, said he saw her upset on several occasions as a result of the alleged bullying.
In his statement to the tribunal, he said that once in 2012 she was called into the sergeants' room by Mr Kelly, and was scolded by him in front of three other sergeants.
'She told me he was armed with a Taser and a handgun, whereas she had just handed in all her weaponry, which was intimidating for her. She was visibly upset and in tears.'
Mr Flaherty said Mr Kelly's attitude changed when he was promoted from sergeant in January 2012.
He said: 'He got a reputation for aggressive and intrusive management and for generally being a bully. I have been told by other officers that they thought he used to follow officers on post in a police car, turn the lights off and spy on them to ensure they were at their post.'
He added that he did not 'personally witness' any of the events that Miss Howard raised, but added: 'I saw her become upset on several occasions which she told me was a result of… Kelly's actions.'
Schona Jolly, representing Miss Howard, asked the witness: 'She told you in terms that she felt he was treating her badly because she was both black and/or because she was a woman?'
Mr Flaherty replied: 'I think we discussed that on occasion, yes.' He added that Mr Kelly, who is now a sergeant again, had gone 'far and beyond' the treatment meted out to other officers.
Miss Howard has served in the force for ten years. Outside the tribunal she said: 'It has been a long struggle and I just want justice to be done.'
The Met said it would 'robustly defend' itself against Miss Howard's claims. The hearing continues.
Last week Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe called for a change in the law to allow positive discrimination to recruit more black and ethnic minority officers.
Scotland Yard will have to recruit an ethnic minority officer for every white officer they take on, under radical plans to shake off its reputation for racism in the ranks.
In the wake of accusations that the Metropolitan Police is still ‘institutionally racist’, the boss wants to change the predominantly white male make-up of the force with a radical five year recruitment blitz of 50/50 ethnic minority officers to white officers.
He wants to emulate a controversial Northern Ireland model which saw a temporary change in the law to allow one Catholic officer recruited for every Protestant officer when the Police Service of Northern Ireland formed in 2001.
Currently the Metropolitan Police is only recruiting one in five officers from ethnic minorities.
Culled from dailymail
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