Rape accuser says police officer who investigated case made unwanted sexual advances for a year
More allegations against police officers are coming to light following the revelation that serial rapist police officer David Carrick got away with his crimes for years, despite opportunities to stop him.
Two women have told their stories to Sky News.
One says she was preyed on by the officer investigating her rape case, another claims her alleged rapist ex-partner worked in professional standards – the department that would investigate predatory police officers.
‘Amy’, not her real name, reported an alleged rape and says the male officer investigating began to make sexual advances towards her.
She says: “He started saying to me, ‘I have to say this to you now, or I’m never going to tell you. I really like you and I really want to take you out on a date’.
“To which I was obviously then quite vulnerable, I’d just had a baby, I’d been raped, I was in a very dark place. And this officer was quite confrontational face-to-face.”
She claims the officer suggested he come to see her at night, with a bottle of gin, even when she was living in a women’s refuge.
Amy says: “I was on edge, I thought ‘what if he does turn up? If he turns up, do I have to have sex with him? Is he going to make me have sex with him? If I don’t have sex with him, is my case going to get closed because of it?’
“To me, he had a lot of power.”
Amy says the unwanted advances continued for a year after the trial, and he also made them to a female witness.
Eventually, police turned up at Amy’s door, telling her that this man was being investigated for things he’d allegedly done to other women. But the damage was done.
“You just don’t trust the police anymore,” she says.
“I had to report an ex-partner for a domestic incident, and I honestly didn’t want to. I sat there and said to my sister ‘I’m not going back to the police.'”
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She added: “But there was an incident where he’d attacked me, and the neighbours had rung the police. And the police turned up and it was two male officers.
“And the male officers asked me to go outside and said, ‘can you come outside and speak to us?’
“I said, ‘absolutely no way am I coming outside, I’m not going anywhere with you on my own.'”
‘A string of complaints’
‘Charlotte’, whose name we have also changed, reported her ex-partner for alleged rape.
He was working for professional standards within the police, the department that investigates abusive officers.
Read more:
Complaints against officers must be ‘taken more seriously’
Woman who reported police officer ex for rape says investigation ‘more traumatic’
Charlotte worked in the force too, and says he should never have had that job because he’d had a string of complaints against him.
She told Sky News: “I think to be fair the whole force was shocked that he had a job in the professional standards department, because it was common knowledge that he had been investigated so many times, that’s what he was known for.”
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Despite previous allegations from other women, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided not to prosecute.
In a letter to Charlotte, they gave various reasons for dismissing her case such as “you were laughing as you told the suspect to ‘stop’.”
Another section states: “You could have pushed him away, and again he might not have heard you say ‘no’.”
And about another allegation where she claimed he was hurting her and had asked him to stop, it says, “He might have interpreted ‘ow’ in a different way, he might have believed you too were aroused by the hitting.”
‘Like I’ve been raped again’
The letter concludes: “To my mind you had the freedom to make a choice which included reluctantly consenting.”
Charlotte is disgusted by the legal concept of reluctant consent and says: “It’s just left me feeling like I’ve been raped again – but by the justice system, the people who are supposed to be looking after us.”
The force, which we’ve decided not to name, said that despite no criminal charges, Charlotte’s ex-partner faced a gross misconduct hearing, was dismissed and now remains on the barred list.
The CPS said: “We understand that our decision not to bring charges will be a disappointing one. Our role is to make decisions based on the evidence and the law.
“After carefully considering all the evidence in the case, including the account given by the complainant, we concluded the evidential requirement to bring a prosecution was not met.
“This decision was upheld following a Victims’ Right to Review and a detailed letter was sent to the complainant explaining the full reasons for our decision.”
It said all cases are dealt with “fairly and with integrity” and that people should continue to report rape and sexual assault to the police.
Charlotte believes predatory police officers gain confidence in the knowledge that so few rape cases reach court and that the stigma of speaking out also helps abusers.
But after seeing how serial rapist PC David Carrick escaped detection for so long, more women are deciding to break their silence.
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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Wrexham AFC have been promoted for the third season in a row.
The North Wales-based side has gone from the National League to the Championship in just three seasons, under its Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Wrexham were second in the table and had a run of eight games unbeaten ahead of their match against Charlton Athletic on Saturday, which they won 3-0.
Wrexham’s James McClean lifts the League One trophy. Pic: PA
Wrexham’s Dan Scarr celebrates with the fans on the pitch after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
It is the first time any club has been promoted for three consecutive seasons within the top five tiers of English football.
The third oldest association football club in the world, Wrexham AFC was bought by Reynolds and McElhenney in 2020, and has since been the subject of a Disney+ documentary, Welcome To Wrexham.
Reynolds, wearing a Wrexham sweatshirt, and McElhenney were pictured celebrating each goal, and after the game, as the fans came onto the pitch at the SToK Cae Ras (Racecourse Ground) to celebrate the victory with the players.
Wrexham co-owners Rob McElhenney (L) and Ryan Reynolds and Ryan’s wife Blake Lively, before the match. Pic: PA
Both stars came onto the pitch after the supporters returned to the stands.
Speaking to Sky Sports, McElhenney praised those behind the scenes, referring to “so many that don’t get the credit they deserve, people who aren’t talked about”.
Reynolds said bringing success back to the club “seemed like an impossible dream” when they arrived in North Wales in 2020.
Wrexham’s Sam Smith celebrates in front of the fans after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
He put the three promotions down to “the coaching staff, the greatest dressing room” and an “all for one, one for all” attitude throughout the club, adding he was “speechless with their commitment and their emotion”.
As for the mouth-watering prospect of another promotion to the promised land of the Premier League, the pair agreed it was “for tomorrow”, before ending the interview with a joint mic-drop.
Veteran striker Steven Fletcher said, “as soon as I came to this club, I knew it was something special. We want to go again. We’ll reset in the summer, take a break and go again”.
“It has been a success.”
Just Stop Oil (JSO) insists it’s been “successful” – as its members ceremoniously hang up their orange high-vis vests during a march in central London.
Since the group formed three years ago, it’s drawn attention and criticism for its colourful, controversial protests, which ranged from disrupting sporting events to throwing soup on Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, and climbing on gantries over the M25. It sprayed orange paint over Stonehenge, and cost police forces tens of millions of pounds.
Those days are now behind it; to the relief of many.
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As a few hundred activists marched through London on Saturday, blocking roads as they went; taxi drivers blared their horns and football fans shouted abuse from the pavement.
The PA News Agency filmed the moment a white minivan seemed to drive towards a group of protesters blocking the road.
Protesters shouted “I’m being pushed back!” to police, while the driver could be heard shouting “What about my right to get home?” to the officers gathered.
But JSO never set out to be popular. And it believes its tactics – though hated – have been successful; thanks to the new Labour government’s commitment to not issue new oil or gas exploration licences.
That’s why, it says, its ceasing direct action.
JSO hangs up its high-vis jackets in central London on Saturday
A washing line of high-vis jackets signifies JSO’s disbanding
“This moment marks the success of the JSO campaign – our demand was to end new oil and gas licences and that is now government policy.
“As a result of which four billion barrels of oil are being kept under the North Sea. The campaign has reached a natural end.”
Dr Oscar Berglund, senior lecturer in international public and social policy, disagrees that JSO is disappearing because it’s been “successful”.
He told Sky News policing strength and public perception might have more to do with it.
“They have very low levels of popularity. About 17% of the British population are kind of broadly supportive of what Just Stop Oil do. And that’s too low to recruit.
“It’s difficult to recruit members to something that is that unpopular, and then that a lot of people for good reason I think have kind of stopped believing in that kind of disruption as a means to achieve meaningful change.”
Group triggers specific new protest laws
One thing it did change is the law.
Policing commentator Graham Wettone tells us: “Obstruction of the highway, obstruction of rail networks for example, these are specific offences now.
“It’s given the police more tactics, more methods, more offences they can consider, even stopping and searching somebody who may have something to either lock themselves on or glue themselves to something.”
A JSO activist holds a picture of an imprisoned colleague
Emma Smart was held in prison for her activism with both Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil.
“The high-vis might be going away,” she tells me, “but we aren’t.”
“These people aren’t going anywhere, we are still committed, dedicated, terrified by the failings of this government and governments around the world.”
JSO activists throw orange paint at van Gogh’s sunflowers
Orange smoke set off by JSO protesters at Stonehenge
She hopes for a time of reflection before it returns in a new form but says the need for climate activism is stronger than ever.
She also believes that while most people dislike JSO tactics, it still raises awareness of the cause and might even push people to more moderate campaign groups.
Just Stop Oil came behind other, similarly controversial climate campaign groups like Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion, and as it says goodbye, its disruptive methods have been seized upon by other organisations like the Pro-Palestinian Youth Justice.
The infamous Just Stop Oil orange vests might be going away, but the individual activists, their cause and campaign tactics feel here to stay.
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