A Police officer who is currently in prison has been dismissed from the Met after planting drugs on a colleague in Romford in an attempt to frame her.

Pc Joseph Prasad, 32, was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment after he was found guilty of perverting the course of public justice and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice with malicious communication at Lewes Crown Court on August 24 last year.

On Friday (January 26), Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball chaired a special case hearing to consider if his conduct breached the Met’s standards of professional behaviour in respect of discreditable conduct.

Prasad had been arrested on June 7, 2016 in Romford after police had received an anonymous call about a man and woman reportedly dealing drugs at the location.

Both officers were off duty at the time.

On being detained, Prasad picked up his colleague’s handbag on the premise of looking for her warrant card; however - he produced two packets containing white powder which he claimed he had found in the bag.

Forensic analysis showed that only his DNA was on the packets.

Both officers were subjected to drugs tests which returned negative results.

Further investigative work revealed that Prasad was in possession of two mobile phones.

One of the phones had been used to make the anonymous call to police on June 7.

Further analysis showed numbers linked to him had made numerous anonymous calls over a two-month period to police, Crimestoppers and the Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) giving false information in an attempt to get his colleague arrested.

During this work it was established that Prasad’s brother had also made calls to police, again providing false information in relation to his brother’s colleague.

Having considered all the evidence, AC Ball dismissed Prasad without notice.

In August, Chief Supt Matthew Gardner, Directorate of Professional Standards, said: “Police Constable Joseph Prasad, together with his brother, embarked on a determined and malicious campaign to frame his colleague in an attempt to sabotage her career.

“Their actions have been thoroughly investigated by the DPS Specialist Investigations Unit and Pc Prasad has quite correctly had to face the consequences in a court of law.”