A senior police officer sued the Met for discrimination after claiming bosses had exposed the fact he was a sex addict.
Jeffrey Boothe, who represented the force at a Chief Police Officers conference abroad and whose work involved ‘planning and implementing initiatives’ to increase women in the Met, admitted paying for sex.
At an employment tribunal the officer accused Scotland Yard of leaking his condition to the media which had caused him ‘stress, anxiety’ and left him with ‘a strong feeling of being persecuted’.
In May 2023 it was revealed that an unnamed ‘high flying’ officer with a £100,000-a-year salary package had been allowed to keep his job despite using prostitutes, a decision that caused controversy in the London Assembly.
In March this year Mr Boothe launched his discrimination case against the Met.
A hearing in central London was told the grounds for his original claim consisted of a diagnosis from a doctor of psychology who founded a ‘sexual addiction’ treatment association back in 2015.
As part of his complaint, Mr Boothe stated that ‘[his] ex partner knew that[he] was suffering from a sex addiction, which had led to him using prostitutes’, the tribunal heard.
He claimed that the alleged leak to the press by the Met of his sex addiction was ‘unfavourable treatment’.
After his initial claim was refused, it was heard Mr Boothe tried to argue his disability fell under the the umbrella term of suffering from Obsessive Complusive Disorder.
However, his case has now been dismissed by a judge who ruled he had lied about OCD after learning he would have ‘serious difficulties relying on his alleged sex addiction as a disability’.
The latest hearing was told his sex addiction was a consequence of his OCD.
Rejecting the latest claim, Employment Judge Pavel Klimov said: ‘[Mr Boothe] relies on OCD as the relevant mental impairment.
‘The only evidence before me as to the existence of the alleged impairment is his say so in his disability impact statement.’
The judge questioned Boothe’s claim that he had been diagnosed with OCD back in 2015, as the report, nor his most recent claim form, had any reference to that condition.
He added: ‘Where he says that ‘when the news of [his] medical condition was leaked to the media * he was overwhelmed with feelings of self-loathing, stress, anxiety, and a strong feeling of being persecuted’.
‘However, [Mr Boothe] accepted in cross-examination what was ‘leaked’ to the press was not his medical condition of sex addiction, but the fact that he had been hiring prostitutes for sex.’
Dismissing his claim, he concluded: ‘It is not until he sent in his disability impact statement in August 2024 that OCD got mentioned for the first time.
‘I find that if [Mr Boothe] thought that he had OCD and wished to rely upon it as his mental impairment, it is highly unlikely that he would have omitted to state that in his claim form or correct the record of the preliminary hearing in June 2024.
‘It is more likely that the reliance on OCD first arose sometime after the hearing, when it became apparent to him and his solicitors that [Mr Boothe] would have serious difficulties relying on his alleged sex addiction as a disability…
‘For all these reasons, I find that he has failed to establish that at the material times he had a mental impairment by reason of OCD.
‘It follows, the impairment condition of the disability test is not satisfied, meaning that at the relevant times he was not a disabled person.’
His claim of disability discrimination was therefore dismissed.
‘Processes need to be changed to allow the Met to revisit the decisions of previous disciplinary processes in light of recent scandals that have rocked the service.
‘Women need to be able to be confident the Met is there for them and that it is a safe working environment for a career. Unresolved issues like this seriously undermine that confidence.’