A Met officer has been dismissed without notice for football hooliganism and handed a three-year banning order.
A misconduct hearing was held last week for Arsenal supporter Detective Constable Gordon Irikefe, attached to the Central South Command Unit, following his behaviour at a Bayern Munich v Arsenal match.
The officer also attended Westminster Magistrates’ Court today, Monday, 24 February, concerning his actions at Arsenal matches between October 2022 and April 2024.
Detective Superintendent Emma Bond, in charge of policing for the Central South area, said, “DC Irikefe has shown an unacceptable pattern of behaviour at football matches, for anyone, let alone a police officer who should uphold the highest of standards whether on or off duty.
“His actions have not only seen him now subject to a football banning order but have also cost him his job. I am grateful to professional standards and football unit colleagues for pulling together the evidence in this case to ensure we have been able to take decisive action.”
A misconduct hearing was held on Thursday, 20 February, following allegations that Irikefe lit and threw a pyrotechnic into the crowd at a football match in Munich while off duty on Wednesday, 17 April last year.
Irikefe was also arrested that day by German police for wearing a full balaclava and sunglasses inside the stadium. He was fined 100 Euros for the ‘masking’ offence.
The hearing found he had breached the standards of professional behaviour for discreditable conduct at the level of gross misconduct.
Irikefe resigned on Wednesday, 12 February, but his notice period meant he was still a serving officer when his misconduct hearing was held. Therefore, he was dismissed without notice.
He appeared at court today after investigating officers from the Met’s Central Football Unit made an application for a football banning order to prevent violence and disorder. DC Irikefe had been served with a summons on Thursday, 10 October.
The court heard that since October 2022, Irikefe had come to police notice on numerous occasions for disorderly and anti-social behaviour at football matches, including the matters in Germany for which he had also been disciplined, receiving management action.
In February 2023, he was heard ‘tragedy chanting’ at a Leicester City march, shouting ‘helicopter’. Other allegations included making lewd gestures and shouting abuse at a substitute player, ‘masking up’ to conceal his identity and intimating other fans, including using pyrotechnics.
The order was granted and will be in place for three years. Irikefe is banned from attending any regulated football matches in the UK and must surrender his passport when asked to do so concerning football matches played outside the UK.
He cannot go within one mile of the Emirates stadium if Arsenal is playing four hours before and after the match, nor can he visit any town, city, or London borough four hours before and after an away match.
He must not go two miles of any stadium where the England national team are playing four hours before and after the match.
Following his dismissal, DC Irikefe will also be placed on the barred list held by the College of Policing. Police cannot employ those appearing on the list, such as local policing bodies (PCCs), the Independent Office for Police Conduct, or His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services.
