Five serving officers and staff members of London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) have died in January after contracting Covid-19, the force announced this evening (January 26).

Commissioner Cressida Dick said she was "deeply saddened" by their deaths, which were added to the three Met Police members who died after testing positive for coronavirus last year.

The news arrives after the Met confirmed that a custody sergeant from Met's Detention team had passed away from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours.

The other four serving Met Police members to have died this month after becoming infected with coronavirus were:

  • Police Constable Sukh Singh from the Met’s forensic command who died Monday, January 26.
  • Camden Police Constable John Fabrizi, who died on January 25
  • Police Constable Michael Warren, who was part of the Territorial Support Group, died on Tuesday, January 19
  • Traffic Police Community Support Officer Chris Barkshire, who died on Monday, January 11

Commissioner Dick offered her thoughts as the Met announced the heavy death toll on the force in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic:

"I’m deeply saddened by the news that in recent days and weeks COVID has taken five of our colleagues from us.

"My deepest condolences are with the families, friends and colleagues of Police Constable John Fabrizi, Police Constable Michael Warren, Traffic Police Community Support Officer Chris Barkshire, Police Constable Sukh Singh, and our colleague from Met Detention, who will be named soon.

"They are the most recent Met police victims of this awful virus and we miss them, as we do our three colleagues, Public Access Officer Ramesh Gunamal, PCSO Charles Harding and Call Operator Sophie O’Neill, who died last year earlier in the pandemic and who we continue to grieve for," she said.

"Covid has had a devastating impact on so many people across not just in London but the whole country. As this recent awful news shows, policing is not immune and it is inevitable that our officers and staff in fighting crime, responding to emergencies, and just in living within their communities will come into contact with the virus.

"Police officers and many of our staff cannot fight crime or protect the vulnerable by working at home."