Met Police chief Mark Rowley today admitted his force should not have launched a four-month probe into a journalist who was investigating Cambridge professor Dr Jason Arday.

Sir Mark Rowley said this morning officers had ‘dropped the ball’ after Times Higher Education journalist Jack Grove was reported to the Met after emailing the professor about allegations of plagiarism relating to his PhD.

Professor Jason Arday had been at the centre of a growing row over allegations that he had copied parts of his PhD from another student.

He also faced questions over a list of seemingly tall claims from his life story. A poster boy for diversity as the university’s youngest ever black professor, he was initially backed by Cambridge – which had condemned a ‘vile campaign to undermine his credibility’.

But after the Daily Mail revealed a string of universities disputed Professor Arday’s claims that he held academic posts with them, the university yesterday announced it was taking action.

The academic last night resigned from the University of Cambridge after the institution opened a formal probe ‘following new information about Professor Arday’s academic qualifications and honorary appointments’.

Shortly after, 41-year-old Professor Arday released a statement confirming ‘with profound sadness’ that he had left his positions at Cambridge and Jesus College with immediate effect.

He added: ‘This decision should not be interpreted as a loss of faith in scholarship or in the values that first brought me to Cambridge. Nor should it be mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me.

‘It is simply the decision of someone who has reached the limits of what any person should reasonably be expected to endure.’

It was the culmination of months of rumours around Professor Arday’s research and supposed personal achievements, including doubts about his claims to have raised £5.5million for charity and the roles he held at various universities.

Times Higher Education journalist Mr Grove previously told how he received a phone call from an officer at the Met, who informed him he had been under investigation for harassment following a report from Professor Arday.

Professor Jason Arday last night resigned from the University of Cambridge after the institution opened a formal probe

Speaking to LBC on Thursday morning, Sir Mark Rowley admitted the Met had ‘dropped the ball’ over its investigation into the journalist

The officer told him the matter was being closed, but to not contact him again as it was affecting his ‘mental health’. Mr Grove says he sent Professor Arday three emails with a series of questions over a two-month period – the last of which was four months prior. 

Speaking on LBC this morning, Mr Rowley said: ‘We dropped the ball on that one – let’s not beat around the bush.

‘It should have been screened out as not requiring police action.’

When asked why officers spent four months looking into Mr Grove, Mr Rowley continued: ‘In hindsight we shouldn’t have done that. We shouldn’t have made that call to him.’

Professor Arday became engulfed in a row after he was accused of using large passages of another academic’s work in his 2015 PhD from Liverpool John Moores University without sufficient credit.

Although the university conducted a probe and cleared Professor Arday of wrongdoing, the controversy was made public in June by a former Cambridge academic, Nathan Cofnas, who was dropped by the university over his self-defined ‘race-realist’ views.

While an employee at Cambridge, Mr Cofnas faced backlash over multiple blog posts making controversial claims about race, and was accused of ‘abhorrent racism’.

Since the plagiarism allegations, multiple details of Professor Arday’s life have come under scrutiny and been the subject of dispute. 

Jason Arday became a poster boy for diversity as the university’s youngest black professor, but is now facing questions about his academic record and personal achievements

Journalist Jack Grove was investigated by the Met Police after he began investigating claims of plagiarism against Professor Arday

How the Mail exposed the truth behind Professor Arday’s tale

This included detailing roles at four prestigious universities in Britain, the US and South Africa in his biography on the Jesus College website, where he was a fellow until his resignation last night.

It claimed he was a visiting professor at the Ohio State University in the US, the University of Glasgow and Nelson Mandela University in South Africa. 

Spokespeople for all three universities have since denied he holds such a post with them.

His college profile also described him as an ‘honorary professor at Durham University in the Department of Sociology’.

Although Professor Arday previously held several roles at Durham, the Daily Mail revealed this week that he no longer has any ‘formal’ position there.

There have been several other apparent discrepancies in the qualifications Professor Arday claims to hold. 

In footage of a talk he gave in 2022, he described studying for a master’s degree in ‘psychodynamic practice’ at Birkbeck University – a claim not reflected in any published list of his qualifications.

Similarly, an archived version of his Jesus College profile page indicates a previous entry saying ‘MA in Education Studies (Liverpool John Moores University)’ has since been deleted from a list outlining his qualifications.

And he insisted he is not a ‘fantasist’ after doubts were raised about his seemingly sensational list of personal achievements, which included running 600 miles in six days and raising millions of pounds for charity. 

He has since clarified the extraordinary feat actually took place over 12 days but has provided no evidence of completion.

Professor Arday claimed during various talks to have raised £5.5million for charity during this and several other ultra-marathon fundraising challenges.

But he later admitted the figure was actually a total of a syndicate of more than 100 people – none of whom he could name, he said, because of non-disclosure agreements. 

Charity WaterAid also cast doubt on his claim that he volunteered for them ‘installing water points’ in South America and West Africa – and the charity’s name was later removed from some of the academic’s online biographies.

The Daily Mail also revealed the academic had seemingly claimed he was in the TV series Seven Up – but then backtracked when told it was broadcast decades before he was born. Professor Arday claimed his use of the phrase was meant as a broad illustration of a community concept.

Announcing its probe last night, a statement from the University of Cambridge read: ‘The University of Cambridge has begun an investigation following new information about Professor Arday’s academic qualifications and honorary appointments. 

‘In order to ensure a fair process, we will not comment further until this has concluded.

‘Separately, there remain a number of ongoing complaints regarding academic misconduct, which are being handled in line with our Misconduct in Research policy.’

It added that ‘we also fully recognise that there is a person at the centre of this situation, and we continue to provide support to him’.

A Jesus College spokesperson added: ‘Parallel to the University of Cambridge’s investigation into Professor Arday, Jesus College is launching its own process. Professor Arday’s College Fellowship is linked to his University role and we will fully support the University.

‘Professor Arday remains a Fellow during this process. We recognise that this is a very difficult time for him and his family, and ask that they are treated with compassion and respect.’

But just hours later, Professor Arday sensationally resigned from the university, citing ‘an unrelenting level of public scrutiny and personal attack’. 

‘While criticism is an inevitable part of academic life, what I have experienced has gone far beyond scholarly disagreement. The relentless accusations, speculation and public commentary have taken a profound toll on me and on those I love,’ he wrote.

Professor Arday did not accept any wrongdoing in his statement, and described ‘the extraordinary honour of becoming Professor of Sociology at Cambridge’ as ‘the greatest professional privilege of my life’.

He continued: ‘This is not the end of my work. It is simply the end of this chapter.

‘I need time to heal. I need time to simply be myself again. And when that time comes, I will return.’