A disgraced former police sergeant who rose to prominence through television appearances has been jailed for four years after fostering a “toxic” culture of bullying and misogyny within his Cambridgeshire Constabulary unit.
Paul Street, 41, of Huntingdon, was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Wednesday following a landmark corruption investigation. Once hailed for his “robust” policing style and “impressive results” on shows such as the BBC’s Britain’s Teenage Drug Runners and Channel 4’s Famous and Fighting Crime, Street’s career came to a crashing halt after a whistleblower reported his behavior in 2021.
The investigation uncovered two private WhatsApp groups where Street encouraged his subordinates to abuse their power. In a series of harrowing messages sent in April 2020, Street directed his team to “bully” a 17-year-old detainee, Robiul Islam, even urging officers to “hit him” and “smash his head in.”
Beyond physical threats, the court heard of the appalling exploitation of vulnerable women. In the autumn of 2020, Street’s colleague, Josh Williams, 38, began accessing the phone of a female suspect. When Williams described the woman as “quite fit,” Street solicited sexually explicit content, asking if there were “any nudes.” Williams subsequently shared a video of the woman performing a sexual act and sent a photo of her in her underwear.
Street later admitted to asking if Williams still possessed the intimate video, claiming he wanted to show it to “the lads from footy.” When confronted by investigators, he bizarrely claimed he was merely checking that the woman had not been a victim of exploitation—a defense rejected by the court.
Judge Mark Lucraft KC heard that the toxic culture Street fostered led to a wider force-wide investigation into 11 other officers. The fallout was severe: two officers resigned, one was dismissed for gross misconduct, and several others faced disciplinary action ranging from final warnings to performance management.
During his trial in June, Street admitted that his messages were “poor” but attempted to dismiss them as “gallows humour,” claiming he had become “arrogant” due to his professional success and media fame. He was ultimately convicted of two charges of misconduct in public office, in addition to previously admitting two counts of unlawful disclosure of personal data for sending sensitive information to his partner.
Williams also pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office. The sentencing serves as a stark rebuke of the culture within Street’s unit, which was responsible for tackling county lines drug supply and organized crime at Cambourne Police Station.
Following the sentencing, anti-corruption investigators emphasized that the behavior was a gross breach of public trust, highlighting that it was never the officers’ place to discuss or distribute private, intimate images of members of the public.
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