A senior detective inspector with the Metropolitan Police was fired for gross misconduct after a routine device audit uncovered nude pictures of a female colleague on his work-issued phones. The 26-year veteran claimed he only intended to review the consensual images before deletion, but the hearing found his actions undermined public trust and risked data breaches.
A senior Metropolitan Police detective inspector was dismissed from his position following a gross misconduct hearing after an audit of his work-issued mobile phone revealed he had stored nude photographs of a female colleague.
The officer, identified as Detective Inspector Ben Coogan, 49, a veteran of 26 years who led domestic abuse investigations across multiple London boroughs, admitted to taking the consensual images using two separate work phones between May and July 2025. He claimed he only intended to review the pictures before deleting them, stating, 'I recorded the images on my work phone, intending just to review them and then delete.
' He further explained that he was unable to delete the first four images because he had lost the first phone. The hearing, chaired by Commander Andy Brittain, determined that using police-issued devices to capture and retain such images seriously undermined public confidence in the force.
Commander Brittain emphasized that storing these images on police storage posed significant risks, including potential unauthorized access, accidental dissemination to the public, and harm to the sender who may not have consented to their retention on official systems. While the images were taken consensually and the colleague was not under Coogan's direct supervision, the chair noted that the misuse of force equipment transformed the act into gross misconduct.
Coogan, who described himself as a 'mission-orientated professional motivated by a core commitment to protecting vulnerable populations,' denied sharing the images with anyone. He has also been barred from future re-employment with the Metropolitan Police. The service declined to comment on the case
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