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A metropolitan police officer accused of raping two colleagues continues to serve in the force despite being the subject of a reported misconduct investigation.
The defendant remained in office during a two-year criminal investigation into the allegations, which were first made in 2017, and now faces an internal investigation into possible violations of professional standards, the BBC and the Bureau of Journalism found. research. He has never been arrested or charged.
The criminal investigation, which was led by Essex Police due to the location of the alleged crimes, was dropped in 2019 after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) concluded that “there was no realistic prospect of prosecution.”
The offenses are alleged to have occurred while the officer was off duty, the Guardian understands. The two alleged victims made separate allegations of physical and sexual assault, which were denied by the officer, it was reported.
Essex Police said they carried out “lengthy investigations, which were carried out by specialized detectives and highly trained civilian personnel.” But the force said that “there were areas for improvement in the management of these investigations,” which were addressed during a complaints process in 2019.
An officer received management advice regarding oversight of the investigations, but even with these changes in place, the case is not believed to have been successful in prosecution, Essex Police said.
Explaining why the man was never arrested, the force said: “In this case, there was no immediate safeguard concern due to the non-recent nature of the allegations and the lack of contact between the suspect and the victims … Similarly, there was no recent significant evidence to gather concern that could not be obtained through interviews.
“When most of the investigation can be done by accounting, we are likely to facilitate a voluntary interview with a suspect. In this case, we did it twice ”.
The force added: “No case is ever closed and if more evidence came to light, we would investigate.”
One of the women received £ 17,100 in compensation from the Criminal Injury Compensation Authority (CICA), which concluded that “the police evidence indicates that you were a victim of sexual abuse”, while the other received £ 11,600.
The CICA relies on a lower burden of proof than prosecutors when determining whether a crime was committed.
The Met said its directorate of professional standards (DPS), charged with investigating complaints against its officers, monitored the criminal investigation until all matters were concluded, including the victims’ right to review with the CPS, in March 2020.
The Met said that in late February 2021, DPS determined the officer had a serious misconduct case to answer and informed him. The force said a hearing date had not yet been set “but it will accelerate as quickly as possible.”
A statement read: “Given the upcoming hearing, it would not be appropriate at this stage to go into more detail about the allegations that are still being finalized in terms of violations of the standards of professional behavior.
“The MPS takes all allegations of domestic abuse extremely seriously and it is correct and appropriate that all the circumstances of this case be considered at a hearing. We continue to provide support and social assistance to the alleged victims in this case ”.
