A former Metropolitan Police officer has been charged with making a £10,000 blackmail demand. 

Mohammad Raza, 27, of Gurney Close, Walthamstow, was a serving police officer at the time the offences are said to have taken place.

Raza is charged with blackmail, unauthorised computer access with intent to commit other offences and being a holder of a public office wilfully neglecting to perform a duty or wilfully misconducting himself. 

The charges allege he used police systems to access unauthorised information about a police investigation into a family and made an unwarranted demand of £10,000 from a member of that family. 

The offences are alleged to have occurred between March and April 2022 when he was a Met Police officer for the North West Command Unit, which covers Barnet, Brent and Harrow.

A spokesperson for the force said: "Following an investigation by officers from the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards, a former police officer has been charged.

"Former PC Mohammed Raza, 27, who was attached to the North West Command Unit, was charged via postal-requisition on Thursday (August 25) with blackmail, an offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and holder of a public office wilfully neglected to perform duty / wilfully misconducted himself."

Raza was arrested on October 19, 2022.

A police spokesperson said he was suspended following his arrest until he resigned from the police force in March.