Detective Constable Mark Luker, a British Transport Police officer who was among the first responders to the 2017 London Bridge terror attack, has been dismissed from his post after a misconduct panel found him guilty of gross misconduct. The ruling, delivered on February 21, 2026, stemmed from Luker’s use of offensive language in WhatsApp messages directed towards members of the Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities.
The misconduct panel heard evidence of Luker repeatedly using the term “pikey” within a WhatsApp group called “Selbie Gumshoes,” comprised of colleagues from the Major Serious and Organised Crime (MSOC) team. In one exchange, on December 31, 2024, following a conversation about someone winning a bottle of whiskey still bearing a security tag, Luker wrote: “Was this a raffle on a certain kind of site? Lots of mobile type homes? Lots of ‘Dags’”, according to evidence presented to the panel. He subsequently added, “You are the MSOC pikey liaison.”
The panel determined that these messages “clearly link the Irish Traveller community to acts of theft.” The term “dags” was identified as a reference to a scene in the film Snatch, where a character played by Stephen Graham struggles to understand Brad Pitt’s character’s accent when he mentions dogs, and the panel found the use of the term to be “derogatory” due to its association with a mocked accent of a Gypsy character.
Luker argued that the language used was a coping mechanism developed after his experiences as a first responder to the 2017 London Bridge attack, and that he did not intend to cause offense. Despite acknowledging he was not “inherently racist,” the panel concluded that Luker “probably would have known that this was an especially offensive use of language directed towards members of a minority community,” given his experience as a police officer.
The misconduct hearing also revealed Luker made a joke associating theft with the Irish Traveller community, referencing “scrap metal, lead roofing and cable” in one message. The panel’s decision to dismiss Luker represents a significant outcome in a case that has drawn attention to the standards of conduct expected of law enforcement officers and the impact of discriminatory language.
As of February 22, 2026, the British Transport Police have not released a statement regarding any potential review of internal communication policies or training programs in light of this case. An appeal against the decision has not been ruled out.
