Sickening scale of Scotland Yard cops accused of sex crimes revealed: Dozens of officers suspended on full pay over rape, sexual offence and child abuse claims – costing force £3.4M
- EXCLUSIVE 145 Met Police officers are suspended from duty on full pay
- In the past six years their salaries has cost the force at least £3.4million
- 29 of these officers have been accused of rape and sexual offences
- 11 officers are suspended on suspicion of sexual offences with children
The Metropolitan Police is paying the full salary costs of 145 officers who have been suspended on suspicion of crimes including rape, fatal shootings and paedophilia.
They are made up of 105 PC’s and 40 other officers of a higher undisclosed rank – giving the total combined salary cost to the Met of at least £3.4million over the last six years.
In the wake of the scandals involving officers like Sarah Everard’s killer Wayne Couzens and serial rapist David Carrick, the UK’s largest police force has been keen to show it is looking inwards at its faults.
Matters have not been helped this year by Baroness Casey’s review into the force’s culture, described in her report as institutionally racist and corrupt as well as misogynistic and homophobic – suggesting it cannot be trusted to police itself.
And, the sheer scale and depravity of some of the 145 allegations against serving officers within its ranks suggests the Met still has its work cut out.
Serial rapist cop David Carrick is serving a life sentence for numerous rapes committed while he was in the police
Former police officer Wayne Couzens was given a whole life sentence for the murder of Sarah Everard
In data obtained through a Freedom of Information request into the Met’s disciplinary backlog, MailOnline found that 29 current officers had been accused of rape.
In one of these cases the complainant was a female colleague at the Met.
One serving PC has been accused of rape of male under 16, possession of Class A Drug, sexual activity with a child, common assault, child abduction and drug facilitated rape.
They have been suspended on full pay for 1200 days at of the time of publication meaning if they had passed probation and earned the base PC salary of £37,000 they will have earned just over £100,000 in that period.
Four days before the Met supplied MailOnline with their disciplinary records, the force suspended an officer of a rank more senior than PC for allegedly assaulting female officers.
Another Met employee who had passed the rank of PC has been paid at least £31,000 in just under a year after they were suspended on suspicion of serious sexual assault/rape.
One PC has been suspended for 342 days on suspicion of uploading indecent images of children to the internet.
In that time, they have been paid at least £34,668.
Multiple officers have been suspended on suspicion of possession of Class a drugs.
11 officers have been suspended on suspicion of sexual offences with minors and children.
The offences range from grooming, possession of indecent images of children and rape.
The scale of the Met’s disciplinary problem is no surprise to new commissioner Sir Mark Rowley who said earlier this month that is was nonsensical he could not sack bad officers.
He told BBC Radio London: ‘In all cases, I don’t have the final say on who’s in the Metropolitan Police. I know that sounds mad, I’m the commissioner.
‘There are independent legal tribunals who can decide that we have to keep somebody even though we want to sack them, and that’s one of the powers that has to be changed.
‘If you expect me to sort out the cultural issues in the Met and get rid of the people, then give me the power to do it.
‘Can you imagine sitting with the chief executive of a big organisation saying they weren’t allowed to sack certain people – somebody has to decide for them? It seems nonsensical.’
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has asked for more power to sack bad cops
The Met Police has said that they are trying to carry out misconduct hearings in a ‘timely manner’
When approached by the MailOnline and asked to explain why so many suspected bad cops were on full pay so long after their suspension, the Met said a number of factors can elongate the process.
A spokesperson for the Met said: ‘Misconduct proceedings can take a considerable period of time to complete.
‘Reasons for this can include criminal proceedings, including court trials, taking primacy over misconduct hearings and the ill-health of officers delaying misconduct proceedings.
‘We have been clear that we recognise the importance of carrying out and completing misconduct proceedings in a timely manner.
‘The Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards is taking numerous steps, including the recruitment of additional officers, to ensure that this happens.’
