Convicted sex offenders still serving in Met Police as hundreds to be re-investigated

Convicted sex offenders are serving in the Metropolitan Police, the force has admitted, as it re-investigates hundreds of officers flagged for sexual and domestic abuse allegations.

An operation triggered by revelations that serial rapist David Carrick had been allowed to remain as a police officer, despite several reports of assault, examined more than 1,100 officers and staff who previously faced no action.

A separate trawl of police databases uncovered that 161 Metropolitan Police officers – roughly one in 200 – have criminal convictions, including three who committed sex offences while employed by Britain’s largest force.

Harriet Wistrich, director of the Centre for Women’s Justice, said the numbers were “shocking.” The force has also revealed:

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy said: “There are some matters in there that would be classed as sexual offences, it equates to 2 per cent of those 161 people. It’s thankfully a small number but still too high.

“The individual circumstances will have reasons as to why they are still police officers, but those types of matters are things we are looking at to establish whether these individuals should or shouldn’t be in the Met Police.”

Other offences include drug and weapons possession, criminal damage, violence and dishonesty, although Scotland Yard said around half were for traffic offences such as careless or drink-driving.

The figures were revealed days after a Metropolitan Police constable was found guilty of raping a woman and then searching for her name in police records, and another officer in the force was sentenced for stalking a woman he met while on duty.

Ms Wistrich said the numbers were “shocking but no longer a surprise”. “It is no wonder that men like Couzens and Carrick were able to commit such horrific crimes against women whilst remaining in the police given the culture of institutionalised misogyny, extreme incompetence and cover-up that is further exposed with the release of these details,” she told The Independent.

Deniz Ugur, deputy director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), called for “meaningful work to transform the institution’s culture”.

“The government is rushing to recruit tens of thousands of new officers without first doing the transformative work needed,” she warned.

An ongoing sweep of intelligence on all Met officers and staff, which is also being carried out by forces across England and Wales, has identified 38 new cases of potential misconduct and 55 possible criminal associations that are being checked.

Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley admitted that there were still hundreds of officers who should not be in the force, but hailed the “strongest doubling down on standards in the Met for 50 years”.

“We are not pretending we are in anything other than the first stages of this battle,” he told a press conference. “This is really brutal, it’s painful to put out there but it’s important that we are making a big dent in the problem.”

The force said it knew of all officers’ convictions previously, and that three-quarters of the crimes were committed before they joined the force and had been considered during vetting.

Sir Mark is calling for tighter vetting standards enabling the force to bar anyone with a criminal conviction from joining in almost all circumstances.

“While I am reassured that we did not find any convictions that had been kept from us, I have some concerns around the threshold that has been used to consider the suitability of some of those applying to join with an offending history,” he said.

“I have asked my team to rapidly consider whether we should deviate from national guidelines and impose a stricter set of rules for new Met officers which bar those with convictions beyond the most trivial matters, or crimes committed as a young person, from joining.”

The commissioner is also pushing for legal changes to mean that officers who fail re-vetting can be sacked, while trying to get around a “lacuna in the law” with a new process within Scotland Yard.

Detectives are re-assessing almost 700 serving officers and staff who were subject to allegations of sexual offending and domestic abuse in the past decade, looking for “new missed lines of enquiry”.

Victims and witnesses are being interviewed, and some officers are being subjected to covert investigation to determine if they are a threat.

A further 200 officers and staff are being considered for “risk management measures” to restrict the roles they can perform, and could be put back through vetting checks.

Scotland Yard determined that 246 officers and staff with previous domestic abuse and sexual allegations against them will face no further action because they have either left, or the “correct action was taken at the time”.

It comes after a damning report by Baroness Casey found a “culture of denial” has allowed predators to flourish in the Metropolitan Police, and warned the presence of more offenders like Carrick and murderer Wayne Couzens could not be ruled out.

It concluded that the force was institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic, but Sir Mark and the home secretary rejected the label.

Intensifying action to root out unsuitable officers is having an impact on the force’s capacity, with 144 officers currently suspended from duty – more than double the figure in September – and 700 working under restrictions.

They include a Met firearms officer who The Independent revealed had escaped prosecution for alleged domestic abuse after controlling “every step” of the criminal investigation by another force.

There are concerns officers are attempting to evade detection by using encrypted messaging apps, such as Telegram, and setting conversations to automatically delete or wiping devices in anticipation of disciplinary investigations.

Sir Mark said the “honest majority of officers and staff” were determined to root out rogue colleagues, and that calls to the Met’s internal hotline raising concerns about integrity and behaviour had doubled in the past six months, with 14 reports now received a week.

More than 1,000 people have called a separate public anti-corruption and abuse hotline since it was launched in November, triggering more than 300 investigations.

Counterterror police and detectives from serious and organised crime are among 150 staff added to Scotland Yard’s directorate of professional standards.

Sir Mark said work so far had “as expected, revealed that on far too many occasions dating back 10 years, opportunities may have been missed or decisions have been taken that have left those who corrupt our integrity free to remain in policing”.

“The task of revisiting so many investigations will take time,” he added. “We cannot rush to judgements that risk doing a disservice either to the officers involved or to the victims and complainants.

“I want to reassure the public that while the longer term work is carried out, we are taking urgent steps to put measures in place to minimise any risks that have been identified.”

Home secretary Suella Braverman said it was “crucial” for the public to have confidence in Britain’s largest police force.

“Sir Mark’s update on the work to root out unfit officers demonstrates the scale of this challenge but I have confidence in his plan to turn around the Met and ensure the force is delivering for the public.”

London mayor Sadiq Khan called the findings “disturbing” but added: “It is right that action is now being taken to review and remove vetting from officers who cannot be trusted to police London – the first step to removing them from the Met altogether.

“I will continue to do everything I can to empower Sir Mark and hold him to account in fixing the systematic failings identified in Baroness Casey’s review.”