More ‘painful stories’ of sex offences and violent cops to come every week, says police chief

The recent spate of criminal charges brought against serving Met cops is just the tip of the iceberg, with scores more cases to follow, the force’s chief has admitted. 

Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley says the public should “prepare for more painful stories” as the force confronts the issues it faces, and says we could have two or three in court per week over the next few weeks and months. 

He said cases included “violence against women and girls,” with both domestic abuse and sex offences among the charges being laid against some officers. 

“There’s a trickle of them and more are going be surfacing,” he said. 

The Met is on the defensive after the horrific case of PC David Carrick, who admitted dozens of rape and sex offences against 12 women on January 16. On Tuesday PC Hussain Chehab pleaded to child sex offences. 

And the force’s reputation under previous Met chief Cressida Dick was scarred by several scandals – including the abduction and murder of Sarah Everard by PC Wayne Couzens. 

Speaking to the Greater London Authority’s Police and Crime Committee Sir Mark said he hoped the public would not lose faith as corrupt officers were now being rooted out. 

He told the committee: “We haven’t applied the same sense of ruthlessness to guarding our own integrity that we routinely apply to confronting criminals – and I’m deeply sorry for that. 

“Lifting the stone and revealing painful truths will not be resolved overnight, and I mustn’t pretend it will do, and I hope you understand that that can’t be done. 

“We have to prepare for more painful stories as we confront the issues that we face.” 

During the meeting, he also revealed a new Met corruption hotline had received tens of calls each week, a third of which related to other forces, which had been passed on. 

But he stressed progress with wider reforms of the Met “won’t be rapid”. 

He acknowledged the problem was bigger than “a few bad apples”, adding the Met’s anti-corruption and abuse command was being encouraged to be “proactive in using more covert techniques”. 

This included monitoring internal communications “more intrusively where there’s good cause”, Sir Mark said. 

The force is currently reviewing preivous allegations of violence against women and girls made against 1,071 Met Police officers and other staff members over the past 10 years. All 45,000 Met officers and staff are also to be rechecked for previously missed offending. 

Picture: Sir Mark Rowley at today’s GLA committee hearing (Picture: Yui Mok/PA Wire/PA Images)