Met Police chief says online abusers posted an AI-generated image showing an award-winning London constable wearing an explosive vest
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said a Met constable who had just received a Police Federation award for her work on women in policing was subjected to an 'online tirade' of racist, anti-Islam and misogynistic abuse, and that 'at one extreme, somebody did an AI-generated image and put a suicide bomb on her'. He was speaking to BBC Radio 4's PM programme, as reported by the Mirror on 23 October 2026. The Metropolitan Police Federation chair condemned the 'vile racist abuse' and said the Federation was supporting her. The image itself, who made it, the tool used and any investigation are not reported.
- AI system
- Unidentified image tool
- Occurred
- Oct 2026
- Reported
- 23 October 2026
- Event location
- Unknown
- What the AI did
- Depicted or impersonated the person
- Reported harm
- Reputational Harm
- Whose AI use
- Someone else’s AI use
- Setting
- Work · Everyday life
- Evidence
- AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source
- 3 claims: 3 reported. 4 open questions
- People reported harmed
- 1 person
AI system as recorded: An AI-generated image depicting the constable with a suicide bomb, according to the Met Commissioner; the tool and the maker are not identified
Reported harm
According to the Met Commissioner, an AI-generated image depicting a newly honoured constable with a suicide bomb was posted during an online tirade of racist, anti-Islam and misogynistic abuse directed at her (Mirror, quoting BBC Radio 4 PM).
Outcome
UnknownThe Commissioner publicly condemned the abuse and the Metropolitan Police Federation chair said the Federation stood in solidarity with that condemnation. No report, investigation or arrest concerning the image is reported.
What remains unknown
- Who made and posted the image, on which platform, and with which AI tool.
- How the Commissioner established that the image was AI-generated.
- The exact date the image was posted; the abuse followed the award on Wednesday 21 October 2026.
- Whether a crime report or investigation followed, and the officer's own account of the effect.
What the evidence supports
AI involvement: reported. Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said on BBC Radio 4's PM programme, as quoted by the Mirror, that 'somebody did an AI-generated image and put a suicide bomb on her'. The generated image depicting the constable is itself the harm recorded. How he knows the image was AI-generated, which tool made it and who posted it are not stated.
3 claims: 3 reported. What the statuses mean
Reported A Metropolitan Police constable was honoured with the Outstanding Contribution to Women in Policing Award, and the Commissioner said she then received racist, anti-Islam and misogynistic online abuse.
Causal attribution. The Commissioner's account, as quoted by the Mirror.
- mirror.co.uk(opens in new tab) supports · English
'was honoured with the Outstanding Contribution to Women in Policing Award on Wednesday'; 'the online tirade of vileness, of racist, anti-Islam and all sorts of other abuse, and misogynistic, was horrific'
Reported The Commissioner said that, at one extreme, somebody made an AI-generated image depicting her with a suicide bomb.
Causal attribution. The Commissioner's statement on BBC Radio 4 PM as quoted by the Mirror; the image was not inspected and the basis for calling it AI-generated is not stated.
- mirror.co.uk(opens in new tab) supports · English
'At one extreme, somebody did an AI-generated image and put a suicide bomb on her,'
Reported The chair of the Metropolitan Police Federation condemned the racist abuse and stood in solidarity with the Commissioner's condemnation.
Causal attribution. Federation statement as quoted by the Mirror.
- mirror.co.uk(opens in new tab) supports · English
'Not discussing the vile racist abuse directed towards her by cowardly keyboard warriors'; 'We stand in solidarity with the Commissioner in his condemnation of the torrent of abuse she has sadly had to endure.'
Sources
1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.
- Mirror, 23 October 2026: Met Police chief condemns racists who AI'd suicide vest on PC(opens in new tab)
s1 · mirror.co.uk · News report · English · Inspected · 23 October 2026 · Primary
How the sources were read, and where the events happened
Read in English on 2026-10-24 from an Internet Archive save capture (web/20261024031402) because the live page returned a bot shell (HTTP 202, 0 bytes). Mirror article published 23 October 2026, quoting the Commissioner's BBC Radio 4 PM interview and a Metropolitan Police Federation statement. Applies to s1.
Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: United Kingdom. Court countries: Unknown.
She is a serving Metropolitan Police officer in London (Mirror). Where the image was made and posted from is not stated, so no event country is recorded.
Reviewed for publication 2026-10-24: Core case (depicted_or_impersonated): the Metropolitan Police Commissioner says an AI-generated image depicting a named, newly honoured constable with a suicide bomb was posted in racist and misogynistic online abuse of her. One source chain (his BBC Radio 4 remarks via the Mirror); the image was not inspected and the AI attribution's basis is undisclosed. She is described by role only.
People described
A Metropolitan Police constable honoured with a Police Federation award for her work on women in policing; not named here
People reported harmed in this case
1 person
0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed
One person, the constable depicted in the AI-generated image (Met Commissioner via the Mirror). Exact 1.
Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.
Cite this case
Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.
APA
NOPE. (2026). Met Police chief says online abusers posted an AI-generated image showing an award-winning London constable wearing an explosive vest. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-london-met-police-chief-says-abusers-posted-ai-image-of-award-winning-constable-in-explosive-vest
BibTeX
@misc{2026_london_met_police_chief_says_abusers_posted_ai_image_of_award_winning_constable_in_explosive_vest,
title = {Met Police chief says online abusers posted an AI-generated image showing an award-winning London constable wearing an explosive vest},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {AI incidents},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-london-met-police-chief-says-abusers-posted-ai-image-of-award-winning-constable-in-explosive-vest}
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