CCTV captured the moment four Metropolitan Police officers brawled with a group of Romanians after the force’s drunken Christmas boat party descended into violence.
Members of the Met’s Territorial Support Group (TSG) had been downing beer and Jagerbombs in the afternoon before they attended a party on the River Thames on December 1, 2023.
When the boat docked near the London Eye at around 11pm, Jack Sparkes, 34, Max Michaels-Dubois, 33, and Daniel Dean, 38, accused a group of assaulting their colleague Alex Fackerell, 32, before quickly getting embroiled in a fight themselves.
Video captured Sparkes and Michael-Dubois then threw punches at a member of the group, before Dean appeared to headbutt one of them.
Another member of the TSG, Kelsey Millar, 32, then pushed a man before further assaulting Jhanaelle Samuels, a security guard who had been looking to break the altercation up.
Millar, Sparkes, Michaels-Dubois, Dean and Fackerell – who was later acquitted – denied affray. Millar also denied a further assault charge.
Despite this and the officers claiming the Romanians had been a ‘threat’, Sparkes, Michaels-Dubois and Dean were found guilty of affray and Millar’s charge of assault was upheld.
All four could now face jail, with Judge Rosina Cottage saying ‘all options are open, including imprisonment’ before the officers, who have been released on bail, are sentenced on October 22.
CCTV footage from the scene showed the officers in a brawl with a group of flag-bearing Romanians
All four could now face jail, with Judge Rosina Cottage saying ‘all options are open, including imprisonment’ before the officers are sentenced on October 22
The officers had been drinking beer and Jagerbombs in the afternoon before their boat party in the evening ended by docking near the London Eye
The court had heard that Millar was allegedly assaulted by a group of men with foreign accents shortly after the boat had docked and that Fackerell had his head ‘busted open’ just moments later.
While receiving treatment, a different group of Romanians, who had been celebrating a national holiday, walked past and checked on Fackerell’s condition, said Philip Stott for the prosecution.
One witness said the officers had been ‘aggressive’ in their response and asked ‘were you the ones who did it?’ before starting the fight.
As nearby security, Samuels said she had witnessed the Romanians being ‘outnumbered’ and tried to ‘defuse the situation’.
However, Millar was said to have grabbed Samuels before kneeing her in the left thigh before the security guard punched the officer in retaliation, which she says was in accordance with her training.
Michaels-Dubois made his way through the group to discover what had unfolded before he ‘shoved’ Samuels.
Millar, who is 5ft 10in, said she was ‘trying to stop’ her friends from being hurt and claimed she was unaware that Samuels, who is just 5ft 2in, was a woman.
Millar also failed to spot the security accredited armband Samuels was wearing.
Jack Sparkes, 34, was among the officers involved in the brawl
Stott asked: ‘You cannot possibly have thought she was part of a passing group of Romanians?’ to which Millar replied: ‘I did.’
PC James Mace, a TSG officer who was not on trial but was called as a prosecution witness, claimed a Romanian man had said ‘I’ll cut you’ as he restrained him.
The officer added: ‘[He was] aggressive, dominant and trying to out-alpha the situation. I had nowhere to go.’
Mace said the pair then fell to the ground and he saw ‘something shiny in his hand’. and told the jury he disposed of the item in a flower box outside the restaurant.
However, no weapon was recovered from the scene and the group were not arrested or called to give evidence.
The court was also told that none of the officers reported the incident to the police.
Chief Superintendent Colin Wingrove, who leads the Met’s Task Force, said: ‘What was supposed to be a celebratory Christmas social event turned into a protracted altercation that saw off duty officers involved in drunken fighting with numerous members of the public.
‘The court did not dispute that before and during the incident, a number of officers were themselves assaulted and injured.
‘But that is no excuse for their subsequent actions which showed a serious lack of self-control and fell well below the standards that we and the public rightly expect officers to hold themselves to, both on and off duty.
‘The officers have all been on restricted duties, with misconduct proceedings paused, pending this trial. Those proceedings will now be progressed and the officers’ status reviewed in light of the convictions.’
- A previous version of this article said that police officers Jack Sparkes and Max Michaels-Dubois had punched one of their victims. In fact, Mr Sparkes and Mr Michaels-Dubois – who were both found guilty of affray – were found to have thrown punches and shoved their victim, not punched him.
