Met police officer 'groomed and manipulated' TV presenter

A TV presenter has told a disciplinary panel that a former police officer abused his position to "groom and manipulate" her into a sexual relationship. Jackie Adedeji, now 31, alleged that then-Metropolitan Police constable Ian Steel used her "to fulfil his racialised sexual fantasy" after lying to her about his identity. A disciplinary panel is being held by City of London Police as Steel transferred there in 2022 before resigning a couple of years later. Steel did not attend the hearing but has admitted gross misconduct, although he denied some of the allegations. Adedeji, who has waived her right to anonymity, reported Steel's alleged behaviour to the Independent Office for Police Conduct in November 2023. The panel heard she was 22 and on a night out with friends in Shoreditch in June 2016 when she met Steel, who was on duty as a plain‑clothes officer. Adedeji told the hearing she had been lost and "a bit tipsy" when she began talking to Steel, who falsely claimed he was an undercover officer and told her: "I'm not letting you go without getting your number." She said he later texted her under a false name and claimed he was in his early thirties and single. He was, in fact, 38