Met Police: Katie Price releases letter about online abuse of Harvey

Twenty-year-old Harvey has Prader-Willi syndrome, which can cause learning difficulties

Katie Price has published a letter from the Met Police telling her officers are facing misconduct proceedings over alleged involvement in a WhatsApp group that targeted her disabled son Harvey.

The TV star and model called the alleged behaviour "disgusting".

The letter, posted on her Instagram account, says the officers are accused of sharing "inappropriate and derogatory images" of her son.

The Met Police said it was "unable to discuss the allegations".

The revelation of the letter by Price comes 18 months after she called for eight officers under investigation for allegedly sharing inappropriate material about Harvey on WhatsApp to be "named and shamed". She added: "I don't like the police being horrible to Harvey."

In the letter she shared on Instagram earlier on Friday, an investigator from the Met's professional standards department informs her that "a number of Metropolitan Police officers are alleged to have breached the standards of professional behaviour in regards to discreditable conduct".

The letter adds that this related to "being part of a WhatsApp group chat that has posted inappropriate and derogatory images of your son, Harvey Price".

Katie Price said the officers facing allegations of misconduct needed to be "named, shamed and exposed"

The letter also states that the accused officers will be subject to a gross misconduct hearing in west London next week.

Price posted a comment on Instagram, alongside an image of the letter, which read: "It's disgusting that police officers from here have felt the need to laugh and use disgusting content on Harvey by creating a WhatsApp group.

"I would attend this court day but I'm away. They need to be named, shamed and exposed."

Social media abuse

The Met declined to comment on the matter, but confirmed a hearing was due to commence on 21 February and is expected to last four days.

A notice on the Met's website lists eight people who are facing misconduct allegations relating to their membership of a WhatsApp group between 2016 and 2018.

The notice adds that the alleged conduct, "if proven, amounts to gross misconduct and is so serious as to justify dismissal".

Harvey, born in 2002, was diagnosed with septo-optic dysplasia, a rare genetic disorder affecting his eyesight, as well as autism and Prader-Willi syndrome, which can cause learning difficulties and behavioural problems.

Price has previously spoken out about social media abuse Harvey has received.

Harvey was also targeted by comedian Frankie Boyle, whose routine on his Channel 4 show Tramadol Nights was found by Ofcom in 2011 to appear to "target and mock the mental and physical disabilities" of Price's son, then aged eight.

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