Met police officers sacked for punching and kicking child during arrest

Alexei Zalesskiy and Conor Ryan found to have lied in statements about incident in Finsbury Park in April 2021

Two Metropolitan police officers have been sacked immediately after a gross misconduct hearing for punching and kicking a child during his arrest and lying about the incident.

The hearing, which followed an investigation by the IOPC, heard that police constables Alexei Zalesskiy and Conor Ryan were accused of using excessive force on the 14-year-old boy, who was part of a group of young people gathered at Finsbury Park, north London in April 2021.