Met Police officer jailed after meeting girl, 15, and telling teen she was 'very pretty' on duty

A Met Police officer has been jailed after meeting a girl, 15, in a park and sending a girl, 16, dozens of text messages, while on duty.

PC Adnan Arib, 45, contacted both girls via text and asked whether they had boyfriends and invited them out for drinks.

The married officer came into contact with the 16-year-old after she was picked up by police, having been reported missing on April 1 2019.

He accessed a police report about her and officers later found 47 text messages had been sent between them on a phone he had initially tried to deny was his.

Contact was made with the 15-year-old girl when he was called to her flat by her mother, who had accused her of stealing money.

He got her phone number and then later asked whether she had a boyfriend. When they met up later in a park, Arib suggested that the pair go for a drink.The younger girl said she felt his “intentions were of a sexual nature” when Arib, who had first been called to her home by her mother, met her in a park after school.

The 16-year-old said she began feeling “uncomfortable and a bit weird” when the officer told her she was “very pretty” and invited her out while in Bethnal Green police station, east London.

Arib then sent her dozens of text messages, including late at night, for around two months, asking her to meet him.

Arib argued that he wanted to offer the girls “career advice”, but he was found guilty oftwo counts of misconduct in a public office between April and July 2019 by a jury at Southwark Crown Court after a trial.Speaking at the hearing, Judge Deborah Taylor said: "What is clear from the evidence in this case is that there was a sexual undertone to your behaviour.

“Once the jury had rejected your explanation, the only inference is you were trying to gain their trust to pursue some sort of sexual relationship."You were a police officer and you used your position as an officer to obtain the mobile phone numbers of two young women, who were then aged 15 and 16 respectively.

"They were both vulnerable, and in your treatment of them you abused the public’s trust in you as a police officer.Speaking at the trial, the mother of the 15-year-old said, "I feel guilty because I called the police for only £10 and then this situation happened. We don’t feel secure in our own home.

"I now have a lack of trust in the UK authorities because he’s a policeman.”Detective Chief Superintendent Marcus Barnett, in charge of policing for Hackney and Tower Hamlets, added: "Officers like PC Arib are not welcome in our Met and the sentence handed to him today reflects the seriousness of his actions.

"Now that the criminal case has concluded we will move to misconduct proceedings as soon as possible."