Member of BTP staff jailed for misconduct in a public office – West Midlands

A member of British Transport Police (BTP) staff has today (14 December) been jailed after he was convicted of misconduct in a public office last month, following an investigation by the force’s Professional Standards Department.

Joshua Tilt, 31, pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office at Birmingham Crown Court on 4 November.

Today (14 December) the judge sentenced him to two years and two months in prison.

On 21st June 2022, the former Force Control Room member of staff took a picture on his mobile phone of an image from the scene of a railway fatality. The highly sensitive image had been received to the Force Control Room by email, as part of our investigation for the coroner's file.

Joshua Tilt told another member of staff that he had sent the picture of this image to his girlfriend.

The concerned member of staff reported this to BTP’s Professional Standards Department on 28 June, and they immediately launched a full and thorough investigation.

On 30 June Tilt was arrested and interviewed, where he admitted sending the same image on WhatsApp to a group chat with 12 people in. 

Tilt tried to resign but the force rejected his resignation and dismissed him formally without notice two weeks later on 14 July.

Deputy Chief Constable Alistair Sutherland said: “The actions of Joshua Tilt have shocked each of us at BTP to the core. As an organisation, we take great pride in supporting families through some of the darkest days of their lives, and treating each of them with care, compassion and respect.

“To know that the actions of one our employees actually intensified the suffering of a family, is something that we find incredibly distressing. Our Chief Constable visited the family to explain what had happened and apologise unreservedly.

“As soon as a member of staff reported Tilt’s actions, an investigation was immediately launched by our professional standards department and he was arrested within two days. We did not accept Tilt’s resignation request and dismissed him the force on 14 July. As a result of our thorough investigation, he has now received a significant custodial sentence.

“His actions are in no way representative of the thousands of BTP officers, staff and volunteers who display the highest levels of professionalism and commitment every single day to the communities we serve. They are sickening and completely incompatible with both public decency and what is to be rightly expected of a member of the police service.

“To the family of Lewis Williams – we are truly sorry this happened.”