By Tristan Kirk

Copyright standard

A disgraced Metropolitan Police officer sobbed as he was spared jail for posting images of vulnerable suspects on WhatsApp and sharing confidential records to boast to friends about his work.

Jose Cunha, 28, recorded a woman singing to herself in a police cell and branded her a “nutter” and a “weirdo” in social media messages.

He shared a video of himself wielding a Taser, photographed a suspect with mental health problems wearing a spit hood in the back of an ambulance, and shared images on WhatsApp with members of the public of arrest records.

At Southwark crown court on Thursday, Cunha – who was a PC in the Met – was in tears as he entered the dock to be sentenced.

He admitted six counts of misconduct in public office, and was handed a 24-month suspended sentence by Judge Gregory Perrins.

The judge said it was “persistent and repeated offending, not a one-off error of judgement”, and slammed Cunha for “grave breaches of trust placed in you as a police officer”.

He said Cunha had breached privacy rules, as well as “mocking and abusing people in custody for the amusement of you and others”.

The case comes as Scotland Yard is engulfed by scandal once again after an undercover Panorama investigation revealed deep-seated racist and misogynistic attitudes among offices at Charing Cross Police Station.

The judge branded Cunha’s actions “despicable”, and told him: “The public are rightly appalled and disgusted when they see police officers behaving in this way”, adding: “Your actions have directly contributed to that erosion of trust”.

But he said Cunha’s personal circumstances, together with genuine remorse, meant he did not have to go to jail today.

The court heard Cunha, who was based at Forest Gate Police Station in northwest London, admitted offences relating to images, videos, and messages created between June 2020 and August 2021.

In a chat with a fellow Met officer, Cunha mocked a man who was wearing a spit hood while lying down on a bed inside an ambulance. The man had said he has mental health problems.

The PC and his colleague joked about performing a sex act on the man, then Cunha took a picture of him and posted it on the WhatsApp chat.

In another incident, Cunha was on duty at a police station and charged with monitoring a vulnerable woman when he surreptitiously recorded a video of her as she stood in a cell while singing to herself and facing the wall.

Cunha shared the video and images of the woman with a member of the public, called Claudia, with the caption: “Dealing with this nutter”.

“He explained he had to tell the suspect to ‘shut it’ twice, and revealed to Claudia the individual has epilepsy and has refused to take her medication”, said prosecutor Lucy Organ.

“At the time Mr Cunha took the video, he was on duty and assigned to the role of safeguarding a vulnerable individual.”

The court heard he shared images of the detained woman in a WhatsApp group called ‘Gangland’, which included members of the public as well as police officers.

He wrote: “Look at this weirdo”, telling his friends she was “just facing the wall”, and he added: “I’m gonna lose my rag, she’s been doing this for one hour. What weirdo does this? Just sit down and sleep.”

In June 2021, Cunha used a mobile phone to film a video of himself pulling out his Taser and aiming it at a suspect.

He stopped short of firing the Taser, but aimed red dots at the suspect and gave warnings. Cunha then sent the footage to a former British Transport Police officer, who had himself resigned from his job while facing a misconduct investigation.

The prosecutor outlined how Cunha took a picture of the custody front sheet for a suspect he had arrested for rape.

The details of the suspect had been obscured, as he forward the image to a WhatsApp group primarily focused on online gaming.

He also sent a message to the ex-BTP officer, saying: “This is how my day’s going”.

In August 2021, Cunha took another image of an arrest document, and shared it with a woman on WhatsApp.

“He boasts that he a fight with the suspect, which he won, and which resulted in that individual’s arrest”, said Ms Organ.

She told the judge Cunha’s offending was “persistent and repeated”, adding: “He committed the offences when dealing with vulnerable individuals, he infringed on individuals’ dignity, privacy, and put their safety at risk.

“In sharing custody records, he was sharing sensitive policing details, with members of the public, with some police officers, but also with ex-police officers.

“In the circumstances, he wasn’t able to control any further dissemination of this material.”

Defence barrister Miranda Zeffman told the court Cunha – who has now resigned from the Met – was in his early 20s at the time of the offences, which were driven by a “desire to boast”.

She said he had been commended during his policing career for his response to an acid attack and intervening in a stabbing while off-duty.

Pleading for a suspended prison term, Ms Zeffman said Cunha is the sole carer for his sick mother, who is largely housebound and relies on him for daily care.

She added that Cunha and his mother have no other family in the UK, and were homeless for a year when they first arrived.

Cunha, of Gascoyne Road, Hackney, pleaded guilty to three counts of misconduct in public office shortly after first being charged in 2024, and he admitted a further three counts on the first day of his trial in July this year.

He shouted thank you through tears as he left the dock, to hugs from his group of friends. He hid behind a pillar and then covered his head with a coat as he left the courthouse, to try to avoid being photographed.

A co-defendant, PC Richard Aston, admitted one charge of misconduct in public office, over the messages about the man in the spit hood.

He was handed a 16-month suspended prison sentence, after telling a judge that he is the sole carer for his sick wife and newborn baby.

Cunha was arrested in August 2021 when his phone was seized and the offending messages were first discovered. He was ultimately charged in April 2024.