The former Metropolitan Police officers pleaded guilty to multiple counts at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday afternoon of sending by public communication grossly offensive racist messages.

The charges relate to texts shared between September 2020 and 2022.

Magistrates' heard some of the messages referenced public figures including the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the Prince and Princess of Wales, the late Queen and Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh, as well as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, former home secretary Priti Patel and former health secretary Sajid Javid, according to the charges.

The officers, who retired between 2001 and 2015, were not serving at any point during their participation in the WhatsApp group, the Met said.

Robert Lewis pleaded guilty to eight counts. The 62-year-old, from Camberley, in Surrey, became a Home Office official after retiring from the Met in May 2015. According to the government department, he was dismissed for gross misconduct last November.

Peter Booth, 66, admitted to four counts. The former officer, from Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire in Wales, retired from the Met in April 2001.

Anthony Elsom entered guilty pleas to three counts of sending by public communication grossly offensive racist messages. The 67-year-old, of Bournemouth in Dorset retired from the Met in May 2012.

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Alan Hall, 65, of Stowmarket, Suffolk, who admitted three counts of the same charge, retired from the force in June 2015.

Trevor Lewton, 65, of Swansea, South Wales, pleaded guilty to one count of the same offence. He retired from the Met in August 2009.

They were charged with offences under the Communications Act 2003.

All five spent time in what is now known as the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command as well as various other parts of the Met.

Michael Chadwell, another former Met officer, denied one count of sending by public communication grossly offensive racist messages. He retired in November 2015.

The 62-year-old, from Liss, Hampshire, will stand trial on November 6 at the City of London Magistrates' Court.

The other five will be sentenced on the same day and at the same court after the conclusion of Chadwell's trial.

All six men have been granted unconditional bail.