'We dropped the ball': Met chief admits force should not have investigated journalist who raised questions about Cambridge professor accused of plagiarism
A journalist who emailed Jason Arday with questions about his academic record was investigated by the Met for four months
Sir Mark Rowley has told LBC that the Met Police made a mistake by launching a probe into the journalist who questioned a Cambridge professor's academic record.
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The Met Commissioner told Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: "We dropped the ball on that one - let's not beat around the bush.
"It should have been screened out as not requiring police action."
Jason Arday, 40, resigned from his post as a Cambridge academic on Wednesday after being accused of plagiarism and lying about his academic record.
It has emerged that a journalist who emailed Arday with questions about his academic record was ordered by police to stop contacting the professor because it had affected his "mental health".
The Met Police spent four months looking into the harassment claim before closing the case in February.
Read more: Cambridge professor at centre of plagiarism row resigns after university launched investigation
The journalist, Jack Grove, was not interviewed and only learned of the investigation when the Met got in touch to inform him that the case had been closed, the Telegraph reports.
Asked by Nick why police had spent four months investigating the journalist, Sir Mark said: "In hindsight we shouldn't have done that. We shouldn't have made that call to him."
A row has engulfed Mr Arday, a sociology of education professor at Cambridge, over claims he plagiarised parts of his PhD thesis, lied about his academic record and made inflated claims about his sporting achievements and charity work.
On Wednesday, Mr Arday published a letter to colleagues via the Good Law Project website announcing his resignation, blaming the decision on the “unrelenting level of public scrutiny and personal attack” since taking up the position.
“While criticism is an inevitable part of academic life, what I have experienced has gone far beyond scholarly disagreement,” he wrote.
He added: “For my own wellbeing, for my family, and for those who have stood by me throughout this difficult period, I have concluded that the only way to bring this chapter to an end is to step away.”
Professor Arday became Cambridge’s youngest Black professor when he was appointed in 2023.
Cambridge University has since launched an inquiry into concerns relating to Arday's “academic qualifications and honorary appointments” amid mounting speculation over his record.
The university has since removed a reference to one of his degrees on its staff biography page.
Two other universities where Arday claimed to be a visiting professor, Glasgow and Ohio State University, have claimed to have no record of employing him.
Arday has denied all the allegations, admitting that while his work contained a series of errors, he is "not a liar".
He previously told The Times: “I am accountable for the mistakes I’ve made. I hold myself accountable and other people should hold me accountable. We’re talking about academia here. I didn’t murder somebody. I think the cruelty that I’ve experienced and the positioning of me as this kind of liar and fantasist is totally unacceptable.”
He also responded to allegations of plagiarism by explaining that because he is autistic, he absorbs information through "mimicry".
The former professor has also been accused of lying about running 600 miles in six days for charity and 30 marathons in 35 days while suffering a hairline fracture in his leg.
Another of his claims about raising £5.5 million for charity has also been disputed, which Arday said was a joint achievement rather than one he completed single-handedly - but that he couldn't name anyone else involved because of a non-disclosure agreement.