Metropolitan Police officers nicknamed a colleague “the rapist” and celebrated when women dropped their complaints against members of the force, a whistleblower has claimed. In a new ITV documentary, the whistleblower, who has since left the force, also alleges that a colleague joked to her about the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard. The woman claimed her superintendent told officers to go on social media and “delete everything you think could be reported” in the wake of the case involving former officer Wayne Couzens.
‘Women & The Police: The Inside Story’ will look into the culture of misogyny in the UK’s police departments.
In the documentary, the woman, who gave the pseudonym Rachel, told how she worked for a unit investigating serious sexual offences, where a colleague was known as “the rapist”.
She claimed one officer even made a joke about Sarah Everard’s body.
Wayne Couzens is currently serving a life sentence for the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard in 2021.
Metropolitan Police officer was ‘nicknamed the rapist by colleagues (Image: Getty)
David Carrick was sentenced to 30 years in prison (Image: PA)
The whistleblower claims officers would give a “thumbs up” after speaking with a victim who decided not to proceed with their complaints.
Baroness Casey of Blackstock, who is conducting a review of the Met’s standards, told the documentary her team had looked into 18,000 allegations of misconduct.
She said “not one person” had a “positive experience of the misconduct system”.
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Sarah Everard was kidnapped and murdered in 2021 (Image: PA)
Speaking about Rachel’s claims, Baroness Casey said men like that “shouldn’t be in those jobs”.
She said: “We’ve worked so hard to persuade younger women not to put up with violence, the abuse, the day-to-day misogyny, and to call out for what it is.
Commission Sir Mark Rowley said addressing systemic failures will ‘take time’ (Image: PA)
It comes after rapist
The force admitted he should “not have been a police officer”.
Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said addressing systemic failures will “take time” but they will be “determined and relentless in rooting out the corrupt”.
He said: “I and tens of thousands of officers and staff in the Met are horrified by this man’s crimes and recognise this will shake Londoner’s trust too.
“We have let down women across London but we are more determined than ever to put it right.
“I have been clear, we will rid the Met of those who corrupt our integrity by bringing the same intensive investigative approach to identifying wrongdoing in our own ranks as we do to identifying criminals in the community. Some other police services are starting to confront similar issues.”
Women & The Police: The Inside Story airs on ITV1 at 10.45pm tonight.