Des O'Connor's daughter loses court case over cop who called her 'amazingly hot'
Kristina O'Connor, the daughter of late entertainer Des O'Connor, has lost a High Court battle after accusing a police misconduct panel of failing to address the "predatory and abusive" actions of a detective who said she was "amazingly hot".
Police officer James Mason had met her as a result of a crime report. Miss O'Connor said the Metropolitan Police had "failed to properly investigate" a complaint but the force had disputed her claim.
A judge on Friday said Ms O'Connor's application for "judicial review" was refused. Ms O'Connor had taken legal action against the Police Misconduct Panel and the Metropolitan Police.
Mr Justice Swift said in a written ruling at the High Court that he rejected her challenges to police and misconduct panel decisions.
Her lawyers indicated that they were considering an appeal.
Earlier this year, Kristina told the High Court that she had been sent numerous inappropriate messages by James Mason after he responded to her report of an attempted robbery in October 2011. The court heard that the officer had asked her out to dinner while taking her statement about an incident in which she was assaulted by a group of men trying to steal her phone.
Des O'Connor's daughter takes legal action against Met Police
Mr Mason, who not only didn't lose his job but went on to work alongside former Met commissioner Dame Cressida Dick, sent Ms O'Connor a series of personal emails, including one in which he told her she was "amazingly hot". In October 2021, a police misconduct panel found that Mr Mason “deliberately and repeatedly abused his position for a sexual purpose” and his conduct “amounted to gross misconduct”.
The police officer was given a final written warning. In written argument, Fiona Murphy KC and Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, representing Ms O’Connor, said: "The panel did not consider or address the seriousness of Mr Mason’s conduct. This was an obvious error in its approach.”
“They failed to have any regard to the directly discriminatory nature of his conduct," they continued. “It was absolutely not sufficient for the panel to leave those considering its conclusions to infer that they would have the fact that Ms O’Connor is a woman at the ‘forefront of their mind’ nor is it possible to in fact infer that they did so from the mere reference to a sexual motive.
“The direct discrimination in this matter went far beyond Mr Mason’s sexual motivation.” They added: “They failed to have any regard to the fact that Mr Mason’s conduct was operationally dishonest and improper.”
Anne Studd KC, representing the Metropolitan Police, said in her written argument: “It is incorrect to state that the commissioner failed to identify or investigate a lack of integrity in an operational environment.
“The investigation took full account of the fact that Mr Mason’s conduct arose in the conduct of his police work, and that in doing so he used a position of trust to pursue an improper sexual relationship.”
After the hearing in May, the forced issued a statement: "The behaviour of former DCI Mason was wholly unacceptable and the commissioner has made clear that officers who behave in this way have no place in the Met.
“On the facts of this case, we consider the claim against the commissioner about the handling of the allegations should be dismissed. The commissioner does not seek to justify or support the panel’s decision.”
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