Two Metropolitan police officers have been dismissed over offensive messages that they shared in a WhatsApp group, including some that made fun of Katie Price’s disabled son. The two serving officers and six former colleagues were found guilty of gross misconduct after sending sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic and ableist comments in a group called Secret Squirrel Shit between 2016 and 2018. Their texts included derogatory comments about 20-year-old Price, who has Prader-Willi syndrome and autism, and a junior female officer, known in the hearings as Officer A, who was described as “fucking ugly”. On Friday, the Met commander Jon Savell apologised to those who had been the subject of “such awful, disgusting messages”. His comments came after PC Glynn Rees and PC Dave Selway, who was named by the force after being granted anonymity throughout as Officer B, were dismissed by a disciplinary panel at Palestra House in Southwark, central London, after a six-day hearing. The pair, along with six former colleagues – Sgt Luke Thomas, acting Sgt Luke Allen and constables Kelsey Buchan, Lee South, Darren Jenner and Carlo Francisco – were also barred for life from the police service. The legal chair, Christopher McKay, said their messages had caused “significant harm” to the “already tarnished reputation of the Metropolitan police service” and had upset Katie and Harvey Price. Last month, a damning report by Louise Casey said the Met was guilty of institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia. McKay said: “Racist, sexist, homophobic and transphobic attitudes revealed in the posts and comments have undermined the reputation of the Metropolitan police service as a fair and impartial body. Harm has been caused to Harvey Price and his mother, who have learned of the posts recently, and has resulted in a loss of confidence in the [Met] by Katie Price. “Officer A is now aware of the insulting way in which she was referred to by members of the group. She must have been upset.” The panel found the most senior-ranking officer in the group, Thomas, was “one of the most active participants” in the WhatsApp group. He joked that he should name his dog “Auschwitz”, “Adolf” or “Fred” or “Ian” after “my two favourite child sex killers”, and mocked Harvey Price’s weight in some messages. Selway posted an edited photograph of Harvey in the chat with the caption: “You’ve heard of elf on a shelf, now get ready for Harvey Price eating Uncle Ben’s basmati rice after trying to read three blind mice on spice.” Meanwhile, Rees described an image of Harvey riding a child’s train as “genius”, which the panel found to be “obviously sarcastic” and “making fun of him behaving in a childlike manner because of his disability”. On Thursday, Katie Price told Channel 5 News’s Dan Walker that the officers should be “embarrassed” and “ashamed”. “I hope … all their names and their mugshots come out because I would like to see their faces and they should be named and shamed,” she said. Savell said he was “repulsed and ashamed” to read the “deeply offensive” messages. “I am deeply sorry to those who have been the subject of such awful, disgusting messages,” he said. “This is another painful day for us. We know there are more uncomfortable days to come as we turn over the stones and uncover others who corrupt our integrity.” The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “I’m as disgusted as other Londoners are by the fact that certain police officers, any member of society, in fact, should behave in this way. There’s no place in our police service for anybody who is racist, sexist, homophobic, misogynistic.”