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14 police could face prosecution over botched sex attack probes
Martin Bentham, Home Affairs Editor12 Oct 2009
Fourteen Met police officers could face disciplinary action and possible prosecution for errors which allowed two serial sex attackers in London to escape detection for years.
Suburban street stalker Kirk Reid, 44, and taxi driver rapist John Worboys, 51, were finally jailed earlier this year after separately carrying out a succession of attacks across the capital.
The cases had already prompted an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission after it was revealed during the men's trials that blunders by detectives had allowed the pair to evade capture.
Today, however, it emerged that 14 officers, including at least one of superintendent rank, have been given “Regulation 9” notices by the investigators warning them that they could be liable for disciplinary action or prosecution.
Although such notices are frequently issued to officers whose conduct is under scrutiny, the fact that so many have been identified as potentially guilty of misconduct will add to concerns about the Met's failure in the cases.
“We can confirm that we have served Regulation 9 notices to seven officers in the Reid case and to a further seven in the Worboys case,” an IPCC spokesman said today. “They are 14 different officers and the investigations cover events over a number of years.”
The two Independent Police Complaints Commission investigations began following the convictions of Reid and Worboys earlier this year. The men's trials had revealed how Met failures, including bad decisions, poor communication between officers and weak witness care, had allowed the two sex attackers to remain at liberty when they could have been detected earlier.
Reid, who preyed on 27 women, the majority on the streets of the Balham, Clapham and Tooting areas of south west London, was jailed for life in June.
After his conviction, police were criticised for leaving him free to target women for four years despite identifying him as a suspect.
A litany of police errors, inaction and oversights was revealed during the nine-week trial.
Police officers in Wandsworth identified that a serial sex attacker was on the loose after linking 25 assaults in September 2002.
But Reid slipped through the net several times despite arousing the suspicions of a series of officers.
Worboys was jailed indefinitely in April after a jury convicted him of drugging and sexually assaulting women passengers.
The trial highlighted how police failed to link his distinctive method of drugging and attacking his victims.
A total of 14 women came forward between 2002 and 2008 to report that they had been drugged and attacked by the driver of a black taxi.
But police did not link the crimes and several women were simply not believed because they had been drinking.
The findings of the IPCC probes into the cases are expected to criticise overall police tactics for tackling sex crimes and are likely to be published before Christmas.
The Met has already responded by reorganising the way the force tackles sexual offences by bringing the “Sapphire” teams, which previously investigated such crimes at a borough level, under the control of a central team at the specialist crime directorate.
Reader views (1)
Do the Police have problems recruiting?
Not surprised really.
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 12/10/2009 13:26
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