The Metropolitan Police have been hit by ‘decade-high’ sexual offence accusations against officers after ‘claims doubled in the year’ since Sarah Everard was brutally murdered.
New figures show that 251 Met officers or staff have been accused of sexual assault, sexual harassment and other sexual offences in the last year.
The majority of those accused have been male members of the force, amounting to 87 per cent of the accusations, and include 190 claims made internally by staff – a 104 per cent rise since 2020.
According to Freedom of Information figures obtained by The Telegraph, ‘dozens’ of those who have been accused of sexual misconduct held the rank of sergeant or above and just 11 out of the 217 were charged of offences last year.
This news comes a year after former Met Police officer Wayne Couzens kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard while she walked home from a friend’s house in Clapham in March 2020.
Couzens, who was nicknamed ‘The Rapist’ by colleagues, had been accused of indecent exposure three times before he abducted the marketing executive in Clapham, south London, on March 3.
Meanwhile, a shattering watchdog report exposed earlier this month how officers joked about ‘raping’ and ‘hate-f*****g’ female colleagues, ‘killing black children’, and beating their partners in a series of highly offensive racist, sexist and homophobic messages which they tried to excuse as ‘banter’.
Last week Dame Cressida Dick was forced to quit Britain’s biggest police force after losing the Mayor of London’s support over her plan to implement major reforms to Scotland Yard following a string of scandals and accusations of a ‘toxic’ working culture.
The Metropolitan Police have been hit by ‘decade-high’ sexual offence accusations against officers after ‘claims doubled in the year’ since Sarah Everard was brutally murdered (file image)
Former Met Police officer Wayne Couzens (pictured) kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard while she walked home from a friend’s house in Clapham in March 2020
Couzens had also been accused of indecent exposure three times before he abducted Srah Everard (pictured) in Clapham, south London, on March 3
Last week Dame Cressida Dick (pictured) was forced to quit Britain’s biggest police force
The Home Secretary previously said that ‘problems with the culture of the Met’ had been ‘clear for some time’, as its crisis-prone commissioner was branded ‘delusional’ and incapable of clearing out the ‘cesspit’ of ‘institutional misogyny and racism’ that had developed under her watch.
In just one of the horrific messages uncovered by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, a male officer told a female colleague ‘I would happily rape you’ and ‘if I was single I would happily chloroform you’. Another officer was known as ‘mcrapey raperson’ because of his reputation for ”harassing [women], getting on them, do you know what I mean being like, just a d***”.’
Nine of the 14 officers investigated are still serving in the force – with just two sacked – prompting critics to accused the Met’s leadership of failing to root out an insidious culture described by investigators as ‘widespread’ rather than the result of ‘just a few bad apples’. At least some of the wrongdoers served in a specialist vice squad.
Dame Cressida (left) lost the Mayor of London’s (right) support over her plan to implement major reforms to Scotland Yard following a string of scandals and accusations of a ‘toxic’ working culture
String of disasters at the Met under Dame Cressida’s watch:
Jean Charles De Menezes pictured in Paris three months before he was shot dead on a train at Stockwell station on July 22, 2005
July 22, 2005: Jean Charles de Menezes is shot dead on a train at Stockwell Underground station in South London.
The shooting happened when counter-terrorism officers mistook the innocent electrician for one of the terrorists behind an attack on the capital a day earlier.
Mr de Menezes, a Brazilian working in the capital, was blasted in the head seven times by police at Stockwell station after being followed by officers from his home nearby.
Mr de Menezes’s family led a long campaign calling for police officers to be prosecuted for the shooting and criticising Scotland Yard for its handling of the operation, which was led at the time by Dame Cressida.
Dame Cressida was cleared of all blame by later inquiries, but Mr de Menezes’ family expressed ‘serious concerns’ when she was appointed Met Commissioner in 2017.
The top policewoman told the Mail in 2018: ‘It was an appalling thing – an innocent man killed by police. Me in charge. Awful for the family and I was properly held to account. We learned every lesson that was to be learned’.
April 2017: Appointed as first female Metropolitan Police commissioner with a brief to modernise the force and keep it out of the headlines.
April 2019: Extinction Rebellion protesters bring London to a standstill over several days with the Met powerless to prevent the chaos. Dame Cressida says the numbers involved were far greater than expected and used new tactics but she admits police should have responded quicker.
September 2019: Her role in setting up of shambolic probe into alleged VIP child sex abuse and murder based on testimony from the fantasist Carl Beech (right) is revealed but she declines to answer questions.
2020: Official report into Operation Midland said Met was more interested in covering up mistakes than learning from them.
February 2021: Lady Brittan condemns the culture of ‘cover up and flick away’ in the Met and the lack of a moral compass among senior officers.
- The same month a freedom of information request reveals an extraordinary spin campaign to ensure Dame Cressida was not ‘pulled into’ the scandal over the Carl Beech debacle.
March: Criticised for Met handling of a vigil for Sarah Everard, where officers arrested four attendees. Details would later emerge about how her killer, Wayne Couzens (right), used his warrant card to trick her into getting into his car.
- In the first six months of the year, London was on course for its worst year for teenage deaths – 30 – with knives being responsible for 19 out of the 22 killed so far. The youngest was 14-year-old Fares Matou, cut down with a Samurai sword. Dame Cressida had told LBC radio in May her top priority was tackling violent crime.
June: A £20million report into the Daniel Morgan murder brands the Met ‘institutionally corrupt’ and accuses her of trying to block the inquiry. Dame Cressida rejects its findings. Mr Morgan is pictured below.
July: Police watchdog reveals three Met officers being probed over alleged racism and dishonesty.
- The same month the Yard boss is at the centre of another storm after it emerged she was secretly referred to the police watchdog over comments she made about the stop and search of Team GB sprinter Bianca Williams. Dame Cressida is accused of pre-empting the outcome of an independent investigation.
- Also in July she finds herself under fire over her woeful security operation at the Euro 2020 final at Wembley where fans without tickets stormed the stadium and others used stolen steward vests and ID lanyards to gain access.
August Dame Cressida facing a potential misconduct probe over her open support for Deputy Assistant Commissioner Matt Horne who could stand trial over alleged data breaches.
December: Two police officers who took pictures of the bodies of murdered sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman (right) were jailed for two years and nine months each.
Pc Deniz Jaffer and Pc Jamie Lewis were assigned to guard the scene overnight after Ms Henry, 46, and Ms Smallman, 27, were found dead in bushes in Fryent Country Park, Wembley, north-west London. Instead, they breached the cordon to take photographs of the bodies, which were then shared with colleagues and members of the public on WhatsApp.
December: Dame Cressida apologises to the family of a victim of serial killer Stephen Port (right). Officers missed several chances to catch him after he murdered Anthony Walgate in 2014.
Dame Cressida – who was not commissioner at the time of the murder – told Mr Walgate’s mother: ‘I am sorry, both personally and on behalf of The Met — had police listened to what you said, things would have turned out a lot differently’.’
January 2022: She faces a barrage of fresh criticism for seeking to ‘muzzle’ Sue Gray’s Partygate report by asking her to make only ‘minimal’ references to parties the Met were investigating.
February 2022: Details of messages exchanged by officers at Charing Cross Police Station, which included multiple references to rape, violence against women, racist and homophobic abuse, are unveiled in a watchdog report.
The highly critical report led to a chorus of calls for her to resign or be sacked.
Former chief prosecutor Nazir Afzal said: ‘The Met Police may be the worst for institutional misogyny and racism but they’re not the only ones. Only a statutory judge led inquiry will do. Only new leadership will do.’
Commenting on the watchdog’s findings, Priti Patel said: ‘It has been clear for some time that there are problems with the culture of the Metropolitan Police, which is why last year I tasked the Angiolini Inquiry and the police inspectorate with investigating these deeply concerning issues.
‘I expect the Metropolitan Police and the Mayor of London to implement the recommendations of this report as soon as practically possible. The public rightly expects the behaviour of the police to be beyond reproach – standards must be raised.’
The report also exposed numerous instances of homophobic language, with officers talking about ‘f****** gays’ and writing ‘f*** you bender’, in addition to a mass of racist comments including references to African children, Somali people and Auschwitz.
The messages were uncovered as part of nine linked investigations into officers based in Westminster, mostly at Charing Cross police station, which began in March 2018 after allegations that a male officer had sex with a drunk woman at a police station.
The Met said it was ‘deeply sorry’ for the ‘reprehensible behaviour’ displayed by its officers and said it had taken ‘a series of measures to hold those responsible to account and stamp out unacceptable behaviour’.
But Dame Diana Johnson, the Labour chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, accused the force of not doing enough to root out racists and misogynists.
‘In the report, it is very clear that the IOPC are saying that this is not isolated and it is not simply just a few bad apples,’ she told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme. ‘So, I think that whole issue of the culture within the police force is one that is incredibly concerning.’
Touching on the fact that nine of the officers investigated are still serving in the force, the Hull North MP added: ‘There is a question about the fact that only two officers have been sacked.’
IOPC regional director Sal Naseem said: ‘The behaviour we uncovered was disgraceful and fell well below the standards expected of the officers involved. While these officers predominantly worked in teams in Westminster, which have since been disbanded, we know from other recent cases that these issues are not isolated or historic.
‘The learning report we are publishing today is shocking and contains language which is offensive – and some may find it upsetting. However, we felt it was important to provide the context for the public, the Met and other forces, for why such hard-hitting recommendations are necessary.’
While the IOPC acknowledged the work that the Met has done since to improve, Mr Naseem said more needs to be done.
He said: ‘Our investigation showed the officers’ use of ‘banter’ became a cover for bullying and harassment. Colleagues were afraid to speak out about these behaviours for fear of being ostracised, demeaned or told to get another job.
‘We are grateful to those officers who were brave enough to speak to us about the cultural issues that existed within these teams, realising that in doing so they risked further bullying. This took courage. Hopefully our learning report and recommendations will give officers the confidence to come forward in the knowledge that people are listening and that changes will be made.
‘The relationship between the police and the public is critical to maintaining the principle of policing by consent. The concerns about behaviour and culture addressed in our report, if allowed to continue and go unchallenged, risked causing serious damage to that relationship.’
Of the 14 officers investigated, two were fired for gross misconduct and put on a barred list to stop them ever working again for the police. Two officers resigned and two others were disciplined.
Deputy assistant commissioner Bas Javid said: ‘I am angry and disappointed to see officers involved in sharing sexist, racist and discriminatory messages. It’s clear we have a lot of work to do to ensure bullying and discrimination does not exist in any part of the Met.
‘The actions of these officers between 2016 and 2018 were unacceptable, unprofessional, disrespectful and deeply offensive. I read their messages with increasing disgust and shame.
‘We haven’t waited for the IOPC’s report to take action – a number of officers have been subject to misconduct proceedings, including one officer dismissed and one who would have been dismissed had he not already resigned. Every Met employee has also been spoken to about responsible use of social media.
‘We recognise that there is need for real change in the Met and we are committed to creating an environment that is even more intolerant to those who do not uphold the high values and standards expected of us.’
A review of culture and standards in the Met is currently being carried out by Baroness Casey, in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: ‘I am utterly disgusted by the behaviour outlined in this IOPC report, which details the shocking evidence of discrimination, misogyny, harassment and bullying by police officers.
‘The conduct of these officers was totally unacceptable and what has been revealed by these investigations will only further damage public trust and confidence in the police.
‘It is right that the team concerned has been disbanded and the police officers found to be involved have been dismissed, disciplined or have left the police.
‘Anyone found to be responsible for sexism, racism, misogyny, Islamophobia, antisemitism, bullying or harassment does not deserve to wear the Met uniform and must be rooted out.’
In a statement given to the MailOnline, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘The Met has been rocked by a series of awful events, including the appalling behaviour displayed by officers at Charing Cross police station between 2016 and 2018, the murder of Sarah Everard, the outcome of the Stephen Port inquests and the abhorrent actions of PCs Jaffer and Lewis.
‘We are acutely aware that these events have deeply damaged the trust and confidence people have in us.
‘There is need for real change in our organisation. More than ever before we have been looking at ourselves critically and asking hard questions to improve our culture and professional standards, and we do not underestimate the scale of the change required.
‘Part of rebuilding that trust is making it impossible for such behaviour to be seen as acceptable, telling the public where we have got it wrong and what we are doing about it, and removing officers who have behaved in such an awful way. The Independent Office for Police Conduct and others thoroughly scrutinise our actions.
‘The Commissioner has asked Baroness Louise Casey to lead an independent and far-reaching review into our culture and standards of professional and personal behaviour. The review will ask difficult questions to ensure there are lasting improvements to the service we provide for all Londoners.
‘While this process is on-going we recognise that we need to take urgent action to improve. We have already boosted the number of investigators in our professional standards department to strengthen our capability to root out people who abuse their positions of trust. Every Met employee has also been spoken to about professional boundaries and actively intervening and challenging wrong doing.
‘Further information about what we are doing to tackle the issues raised and on regaining public trust can be read in our Rebuilding Trust – Update on Progress.’
