A Metropolitan Police officer followed a woman and took photos of her without her knowledge for two months, a tribunal heard. PC Gerard Kennedy, 53, of Kings Sutton, Northamptonshire, was convicted of stalking and jailed for over six years at Northampton Crown Court last year. Northamptonshire Police raided his home and found evidence of the offences after a report by the victim in 2023.
Now the creep, who stalked his victim between February and March 2023, has been sacked from the force for gross misconduct. The panel heard how PC Kennedy, who had a decade's service, was sentenced to 78 months and slapped with an indefinite restraining order after being found guilty 'in relation to a range of incidents of stalking'.
In her ruling, Assistant Commissioner Barbara Gray wrote it was 'completely unacceptable' for police officers to break the law. "PC Gerard Kennedy was responsible for his conduct. He followed a female known to him and took photographs without her knowledge. His conduct was intentional, targeted, deliberate and planned, and culminated in a conviction for stalking," wrote AC Gray.
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"This type of offending involves a fundamental breach of the public’s trust in police officers and inevitably brings the profession into disrepute. PC Gerard Kennedy was convicted of a criminal offence. It is completely unacceptable for police officers who are responsible for enforcing the law to break the law themselves."
Northamptonshire Police Detective Inspector Ashleigh Houlden said: “Kennedy was a serving police officer when he committed this crime and as someone in a position of trust he should have been setting an example to others through his behaviour. Instead he chose to commit this calculated and highly-distressing crime."
PC Kennedy was suspended from work after he was arrested and charged with stalking. On January 25, a misconduct hearing decided PC Kennedy should be dismissed from the Met without notice.
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