A Metropolitan Police inspector convicted of sexual assault has been sentenced at Southwark Crown Court after a jury found him guilty of an offence against a woman during a night out with colleagues in central London. Inspector Michael Richards, 40, attached to the Met’s Learning and Development Command, was convicted of one count of sexual assault on Monday, 10 August, after a week-long trial at the same court. He was sentenced on Friday, 25 September. The jury acquitted him of a second count, so the sentence relates only to the count on which he was found guilty.
The case
The case began on Wednesday, 17 September 2024, when police were called to a pub near Leicester Square following reports that Richards had touched the bottoms of a man and a woman. He had been out with colleagues and was off duty. This report reflects the brief, non-graphic account given by the Met.
After arrest and interview, Richards was released on bail while enquiries continued, and he was suspended from duty. On Sunday, 25 May he was charged with two counts of sexual assault. At trial, the jury convicted him of one count — a formal finding of guilt — and found him not guilty of the other. He was therefore sentenced only for the offence of which he was convicted.
After sentencing, Chief Superintendent Sean Wilson, from the Met’s People Directorate, thanked the colleagues who challenged Richards that night. In a short line quoted in the official update, he said such conduct “has no place in the Met”. The verified facts are set out in the Metropolitan Police sentencing update.
The sentence
Richards returned to Southwark Crown Court — also the venue for the Russell Brand trial — on Friday, 25 September to be sentenced. According to the Met, he received a 12-month community order and will be placed on the sex offenders register for five years. Those are the sentence details confirmed officially. The Met update did not set out further requirements attached to the community order in the material checked, so no additional conditions are stated here.
A community order is served in the community rather than as an immediate prison term. The five-year register requirement is a separate legal consequence of the conviction, running for the period set by the court.
What it means for his job
Richards was suspended after his arrest and remained suspended while the criminal case proceeded. In its sentencing update, the Met said he would now face an accelerated misconduct hearing — the fast-track disciplinary route that can follow a criminal conviction. A separate Met notice listed an accelerated misconduct hearing for former Inspector Michael Richards in October. No misconduct outcome was confirmed in the Met news update checked for this article, and a hearing listing is not itself a disciplinary finding.
Misconduct proceedings are separate from the criminal courts. The conviction established guilt; the disciplinary process then considers professional standards and what outcome should follow for the officer’s service. Accelerated hearings are designed to deal promptly with cases where facts have already been established, including by a conviction, but the outcome still has to be formally recorded by the force.
Accountability and standards
The case shows that off-duty behaviour can bring both a criminal conviction and professional consequences. The Met thanked colleagues who challenged Richards, and has encouraged officers and staff to call out poor behaviour on and off duty. Richards is not the only Met officer currently under scrutiny — another officer is under criminal investigation after an arrest in Kensal Green. The criminal case has now ended with a conviction and sentence. The remaining verified step is the misconduct process, overseen through the Met’s professional standards system. Until the force publishes that outcome, the position is as stated above: Richards was convicted, he has been sentenced, and an accelerated misconduct hearing was the next stage identified by the Met.
Updated: 20 October 2026 at 5:31.
