Woman who reported police officer ex-husband for rape found investigation ‘more traumatic than incident’
A woman who reported her police officer ex-husband for rape says detectives mishandled the case and their investigation “was more traumatic than the actual incident”.
The woman, who we will refer to as “Sally” as she cannot be identified for legal reasons, has said those running the investigation into her allegation had been colleagues or old friends of the accused.
Sally, who was also a police officer in the north of England, says the first person she confided in waited for her to finish her story, before telling her he’d known her husband since school and had been on a team tour with him.
Sally said: “He let me tell him everything that had happened from start to finish, and then at the end of it said, right let me tell you that I grew up with him.”
She added: “The detective sergeant who was leading the investigation, she told me that my partner had worked for her as well, which shocked me.”
It had taken eight years for Sally to come forward since the rape, and she only found the courage after learning that her ex-partner was also alleged to have been violent towards his new wife.
Separately, she later discovered a neighbour had raised the alarm about loud, potentially violent behaviour in the early hours of the morning.
The man had written: “The worrying thing is he works for the police and I thought he’d know better.”
Sally said the alleged victim was never formally interviewed.
Following her allegations, Sally’s husband faced both a criminal investigation and a probe by Police Professional Standards. She said that when the criminal investigation was dropped, that seemed to be the cue to drop the internal review.
She said: “I just don’t feel believed. I feel like it’s all been brushed under the carpet.”
Sally claimed she was raped by her ex-husband
Her husband kept his job until retirement and at one point it was suggested he would be working in the same building as Sally.
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After a subject access request, Sally discovered that the file passed to the Crown Prosecution Service included what she said were false allegations against her, claiming she had repeatedly accessed files on her husband.
Overall, she felt she was unsupported and was made to feel “needy” by asking for updates on the case. And she said, as a police officer herself, she “wasn’t allowed to be a victim”.
‘If it happened again, I wouldn’t report it’
With great reluctance, Sally admits she has lost trust in her own force.
She said: “If it happened to me again, I wouldn’t report it. I found the investigation was more traumatic than the actual incident.”
In the wake of serial rapist PC David Carrick’s conviction, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, revealed that more than 1,000 of his officers remain in service despite allegations of sexual or domestic abuse.
PC David Carrick
The Home Office has asked all police forces to check their officers and staff against national police databases.
Sally said the police need to take complaints against its own more seriously. And she believes the police would have acted differently if her ex-husband was not an officer.
That is the big concern – that the police have a blind spot for its own bad apples.
Sky News contacted the police force that Sally worked for, but it declined to comment.
Two pro-Palestinian demonstrators have thrown red powder on Tower Bridge – just moments before leading runners in the London Marathon went past.
The protesters were arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance and remain in custody, said the Metropolitan Police.
A video shared by Youth Demand, which is calling for a trade embargo on Israel, shows two people jumping over a barrier that separates spectators from the race course.
The pair, wearing t-shirts that say “Youth Demand: Stop Arming Israel”, are then seen standing in the middle of the road on the bridge.
Pic: LNP
They throw red powder in the air as an official marathon car goes past displaying the race time.
A motorbike with a cameraman on board continues along the route, while a second motorbike stops and one of the riders gets off and pushes the pair out of the way, just before the men’s elite runners pass.
Several police officers then jump over the barrier and detain the pair, the footage shows.
There appeared to be no impact on the marathon.
More than 56,000 participants were expected to take part in the 26.2-mile race through the capital.
Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the men’s elite race in a time of two hours, two minutes and 27 seconds, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa shattered the women’s-only world record in two hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds.
Assefa beat the previous best of two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds set last year in London by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.
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Pic: LNP
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “At around 10.38am, two protesters from Youth Demand jumped over barriers at Tower Bridge and threw red paint on to the road.
“Marathon event staff intervened to remove the protesters from the path of the men’s elite race which was able to pass unobstructed.”
The force added that they were “quickly supported by police officers who arrested the protesters on suspicion of causing a public nuisance”.
The Met said the paint “appeared to be chalk-based” and was not expected to “present a hazard to runners yet to pass this point”.
Counter-terrorism police are investigating after an incident involving a crossbow and a firearm left two women injured in Leeds.
Police were called to Otley Road at 2.47pm on Saturday to reports of a “serious incident involving a man seen with weapons”, West Yorkshire Police said.
Officers arrived at the scene to find two women injured – and a 38-year-old man with a self-inflicted injury. All three were taken to hospital, with the man held under arrest, but their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
“Two weapons have been recovered from the scene, which were a crossbow and a firearm,” Counter Terrorism Policing North East said in a statement.
The incident happened on the ‘Otley Run’ pub crawl, with one venue saying it was closed for the evening due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
Officers guard one of the crime scenes
Officers inside the cordon in Leeds
Counter Terrorism Policing’s statement added: “Due to the circumstances surrounding the incident, Counter Terrorism Policing North East have taken responsibility for leading the investigation with the support of West Yorkshire Police.
“Extensive enquiries continue to establish the full circumstances and explore any potential motivation.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described it as a “serious violent incident” and said she was being kept updated by police.
“Thank you to the police and emergency services for their swift response,” she said. “My thoughts are with the victims and all those affected by this attack.”
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