A Met police officer who arrived at work more than three times over the alcohol limit for duty has been dismissed following a misconduct hearing.
Detective Constable Neil “Nick” Gray, who was based at Jubilee House on Putney High Street — behind the Odeon cinema — was part of the South West Proactive Unit tackling gang and street crime.
On 19 February 2025, colleagues noticed Gray smelled strongly of alcohol and raised concerns. He was taken to Kingston Police Station, where two breath tests recorded readings of 40mg and 41mg of alcohol per 100ml of breath — well over the Met’s “fitness for duty” threshold of 13mg. The legal limit for driving is 35mg.
To have 40mg per 100ml of breath first thing in the morning, somebody would need to have consumed roughly 10 pints or half a bottle of whisky the previous night.
A gross misconduct hearing held on 24 July 2025 at Patrick Dunne House in Sutton concluded Gray had breached professional standards of behaviour relating to conduct and fitness for duty.
Assistant Commissioner Rachel Williams, who chaired the accelerated hearing, said Gray “had no regard to the harm” caused to Londoners, his colleagues and himself. She added: “The public would not expect a serving police officer to undertake their duties whilst unfit through alcohol.”
The dismissal comes just over five months after the incident. The Met’s public misconduct notice did not name members of the hearing panel — a choice permitted under the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020 but criticised by transparency campaigners as undermining public confidence in the process.
As well as the gang and street crime unit, Jubilee House contains several of the Met’s most sensitive departments, including the Directorate of Professional Standards, the Flying Squad and the Cold Case Homicide Team.
