A London cop was found guilty of gross misconduct for drinking wine on duty and being too drunk to handle a prisoner.

A former Metropolitan Police detective constable, Sean Brierley, was found to have committed gross misconduct after drinking three glasses of wine at a London taproom while on duty in July 2025. CCTV and witness accounts showed he returned to the station visibly intoxicated—unsteady, slurring speech, and smelling of alcohol—rendering him unfit to manage a prisoner. Colleagues conducted a welfare check at his home, finding him disoriented and unresponsive in bed. The panel ruled his actions were intentional and posed serious risks, concluding he would have been dismissed had he still been employed.