"A Metropolitan Police officer created fake Instagram accounts to send unwanted, sexually motivated messages to a string of women including those he'd met at school and university, a misconduct panel has found. PC Joss Astley sent unwanted messages to 11 women using fake accounts between 2014 and 2020 which amounted to stalking and harassment, according to a Met Police misconduct panel."
"According to the misconduct hearing on November 18, 2025, authorities became aware of Astley's conduct in February 2021. Astley, who is no longer a serving officer, targeted women he met at secondary school and university, messaged his flatmate's partner and contacted two female Met officers. In the messages repeated requests were being made to women and/or friends of theirs from an unknown source asking if the complainants had belly button body piercings."
"According to a report of the hearing, which was released this month, one woman, known only as Person A, received messages from Astley between 2016 and 2022. Person A knew Astley from their time at university and reported him to Gwent Police, who identified the officer through online social media account subscriber records. Gwent Police then referred this to the Met Police, which took over the investigation."
PC Joss Astley used fake Instagram accounts to send unwanted, sexually motivated messages to 11 women between 2014 and 2020. The conduct was found to amount to stalking and harassment by a Met Police misconduct panel. Authorities became aware of the conduct in February 2021 and Astley was arrested on April 13, 2021. A single criminal stalking charge was later dismissed in court, but the misconduct panel found the allegations proven. Investigations by Gwent and West Midlands police used social media subscriber records and an IP address to link accounts to Astley, prompting referrals to the Met.
Read at www.standard.co.uk
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