Detective raped by colleague calls for Met chief to resign after civil settlement

In a BBC interview, the detective said Sir Mark Rowley was “not fit for the job” and should resign. She argued that he had not changed the Metropolitan Police’s culture as he had promised. Her call follows the settlement of a compensation claim against the force over its failure, she alleged, to protect her from the colleague who raped her.

She said the four-year legal process left her feeling suicidal. The BBC reported seeing a document in which the Met described the abuse as a single episode when assessing damages. The detective said its lawyers had used that fact, and her continued good performance at work, to question the severity of her psychological trauma.

Her attacker was jailed for life in 2023 for sexual offences against her and 11 other women. His conviction establishes the rape; the later settlement does not establish that the Met was liable for failing to protect her. Compensation was paid without an admission of liability.

The Met acknowledged serious flaws in its handling of earlier reports about the officer and said it had missed opportunities to pursue misconduct proceedings. It said it had tried to deal with the detective’s civil claim as quickly and compassionately as possible. According to the force, Rowley has met her previously and has offered to meet her again.

The force has also taken steps to review past misconduct cases. In 2023, it said it had identified 689 closed cases for further scrutiny and 196 officers and staff for risk assessments or vetting reviews. Those figures record work identified at the time, rather than whether the wider cultural change the detective is calling for has been achieved.