‘Hero’ PC who took on London Bridge terrorists sacked for traveller slur
One of the first police officers on the scene of the 2017 London Bridge terror attack has been sacked for gross misconduct.
DC Mark Luker used the word ‘pikey’ in messages about Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people, a tribunal heard.
In one WhatsApp message, the British Transport Policeman used the term ‘dag’s, referencing a scene in the Guy Ritchie film Snatch in which Stephen Graham’s character struggles to understand Brad Pitt’s character’s accent when he mentions dogs.
Luker, in another message, referred to ‘scrap metal, lead roofing and cable’ which he admitted was a joke to associate theft with the Irish Traveller community, the panel was told.
The panel concluded he probably knew the language was ‘offensive’ to a minority community and ruled it gross misconduct.
Luker was a member of a WhatsApp group called ‘Selbie Gumshoes’ with other members of the Major Serious and Organised Crime (MSOC) team.
On December 31 2024, during a conversation about someone winning a bottle of whiskey which still had a security tag attached, he wrote: ‘Was this a raffle on a certain kind of site? Lots of mobile-type homes? Lots of ‘Dags?”
He then added: ‘You are the MSOC pikey liaison.’
The panel found that these were ‘deliberate messages that clearly link the Irish Traveller community to acts of theft.’
On March 17, 2025, another group member shared a video of ‘Paddy Day parade on Inishbofin’, with the message: ‘Just like a Disney World Parade. They know how to put on a show,’ the panel heard.
Luker replied: ‘Off to find some scrap metal, lead roofing and cable’, the panel was told.
The panel concluded that this was ‘deliberate and discriminatory’ in linking the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community to theft.
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Luker said that he was one of the first responders to the 2017 terrorist attack on London Bridge, and one of his coping mechanisms for dealing with the day can involve the use of humour.
He said he did not intend for the word ‘pikey’ in the messages to be offensive, and the panel accepted that DC Luker was not ‘inherently racist’.
The panel wrote: ‘As an experienced BTP police officer used to dealing with a whole range of people, the panel found that, on the balance of probabilities, he probably would have known that this was an especially offensive use of language directed towards members of a minority community.’
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