The police officers involved in the pursuit of Henry Hicks in the lead up to his death face losing their jobs if allegations of gross misconduct against them are proven.

In a statement released today the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said that “in the investigator’s opinion, the officers conducted a pursuit without authorisation from a senior officer in the control room.” As a result, the four officers in question will face gross miscoundct charges, though a date has yet to be set for these.

The IPCC’s findings were published following the conclusion of the inquest into the death of 18-year-old Henry, in which a jury found that he was trying to evade police during a pursuit when his moped crashed into cars on Wheelwright Street, resulting in his death.

The officers involved claimed the incident did not meet the criteria to be called a pursuit.

Under Met Police guidelines, officers must seek permission from a control room to carry out a pursuit, and can not do so unless authorisation is granted.

In a statement, IPCC commissioner Jennifer Izekor said: “Our investigation has found that four officers may have acted improperly in their pursuit of Henry prior to his death and we have ensured that all four will face a misconduct hearing.”

She also spoke of the fact that Henry was stopped and searched 71 times in the four years leading up to his death, saying that she was “very concerned about whether an appropriate balance was struck between using police stop powers to detect crime and managing the risk of undermining relations between young people and the police in the borough”, adding that “little monitoring or review appears to have taken place by senior management within the borough command.”