The sergeant’s application for anonymity was supported by chief constable Rob Carden
The sergeant’s application for anonymity was supported by chief constable Rob Carden
A sergeant who was banned from policing and kept anonymous by Merseyside Police has been named. Sergeant Simon McNally was dismissed from the force following a behind closed doors hearing this month, with chief constable Rob Carden supporting his application for anonymity.
The ECHO reported earlier this week how, during a misconduct hearing on March 13, it was alleged the sergeant had posted a meme to a WhatsApp group chat with his colleagues.
According to a report published following the hearing, the meme “depicted an Asian male looking panicked with the caption ‘when you’ve just realised your son has taken the wrong back pack to school'”. The report, written by Merseyside Police Chief Constable Rob Carden, said how the officer had been granted anonymity ahead of the hearing.
The officer accepted he sent the meme and accepted his actions had breached the standards of professional behaviour.
CC Carden’s report said: “The officer’s actions clearly had the potential to bring discredit to the police service and to undermine public confidence in policing.
“The public are entitled to expect the highest standards of behaviour from police officers, whether on or off duty. The public would rightly be concerned by a police officer sending a meme such as this.”
Despite the behaviour being deemed as gross misconduct by the force’s top police officer, CC Carden accepted the sergeant’s request for anonymity. The ECHO can now reveal the name of the officer to be Simon McNally.
Following his dismissal from the force without notice due to his conduct, McNally was added to the College of Policing barred list.
The listing for McNally said: “The police officer was dismissed for breaching the standards of professional behaviour relating to authority/respect and courtesy, discreditable conduct after sending a discriminatory meme to a work WhatsApp group.”
The two processes of force misconduct and adding the officer to the barred list are governed by different legal frameworks, with statutory national disclosure requirements overriding any anonymity granted locally.
An officer’s anonymity is therefore only extended to the barred list under exceptional circumstances.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he was employed by the police force for more than 27 years before his dismissal. Describing himself, McNally wrote: “Excellent communication skills, a competent decision maker with a proven track record of honesty, discipline and ethical judgement.”
Shortly after the misconduct hearing, McNally published a post stating he is seeking a new role and is open to work.
CC Carden’s report added: “I have considered all that the officer has asked me to consider, and I am grateful to counsel for their submissions here. I note that the officer asked me to consider specially the following. This was a one-off incident in an otherwise unblemished career.
“He was under pressure at home and work, he was experiencing conflict in his family unit, which had a devastating effect upon his mental health. In October 2024, he was the subject of an unfounded investigation by the IOPC [Independent Office for Police Conduct], which added to his fragile mental health, and which caused him to take time off work.
“I have carefully considered these factors. Despite all those matters, I consider that on the balance of probabilities the sending of this particular meme on this occasion amounts to gross misconduct.
“The level of culpability here is high, he is solely responsible for his actions, as is the level of harm. I accept the [appropriate authority’s] submissions, the harm caused to Muslims being associated with acts of terrorism is widespread and pervasive.
“The meme depicted a racist stereotype. To send a meme such as this, at a time when policing is under such scrutiny can only seek to undermine the public’s confidence in the police and for a supervisory officer to consider that it is appropriate or funny to send such a meme only adds to the severity of this action.”
CC Carden’s report continued to highlight how the sending of the meme was intentional and was sent with the hope of amusing his colleagues. It also said the harm is high from what the sergeant did due to the “ongoing national concern about two tier policing and the perceived attitudes of the police towards certain groups of people or causes”.
The officer is said to have argued that there were “exceptional circumstances”, including how it was a single lapse in his career, he was a high performing officer, he had several good character witnesses and he had shown remorse. However, none of them were seen as exceptional circumstances.
As a result, the sanction imposed was dismissal without notice.
