A police officer is being investigated for suspected arson at a training centre.

It is also alleged he unlawfully got into part of the site at Gravesend while off-duty.

The incident is alleged to have happened at the Metropolitan Police Specialist Training Centre last March.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police told KentOnline: "The Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards is investigating an allegation that one officer attached to Public Order committed arson at a police training facility in Kent on Wednesday, 23 March 2022 having unlawfully accessed part of the site at Gravesend while he was off-duty.

"A mandatory referral was made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct at the time of the incident. The IOPC directed the investigation to be carried out internally by the Directorate of Professional Standards which remains ongoing.

"The officer was immediately placed on restricted duties and remains so while the investigation is conducted."

The Metropolitan Police Specialist Training Centre, in Mark Lane, is used for riot and firearms training for members of the Met, City of London Police and British Transport Police.

It has mock roads, a pub, a bank, a nightclub, a football stadium, an abseil tower and train and Underground stations with full-size carriages.

There are also classrooms, lecture theatres, and accommodation for more than 300 people.

It was previously a military firing range and also the National Civilian Seacraft training centre and was rebuilt and reopened in 2003 as a £50 million training centre especially for London officers.

The Metropolitan and City of London Police have training grounds in other parts of Kent, even as far as Dover in the Citadel complex.

This is a former Napoleonic fortress that was later used as a prison and immigration detention centre.