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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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2nd Met Police officer has been charged with rape

467 replies

Rinoachicken · 03/10/2021 23:04

He worked in the same dept as WC.

It’s being very widely reported, except by the BBC.

AIBU to be sickened and wonder WHY the BBC are not reporting this?

Link: www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/03/metropolitan-police-officer-charged-rape-hertfordshire?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

OP posts:
pelosi · 04/10/2021 16:15

@mustlovegin

if that group are institutionally racism or there is institutional misogyny

Do you realise that when you keep on saying 'institutional' this or that you are effectively discriminating a group of people? It may be ok with you, but I'm not going to entertain that concept. It's false and immoral

😂

This is so stupid it’s not even worth engaging with.

I don’t know if you are on a wind up or you seriously don’t understand what institutional means. Either way, you need to go back to basics as you’re understanding is woeful.

StarfishDish · 04/10/2021 16:16

@LizzieW1969

*Women are living in fear but do please tell us about men's hurt feelings.*

^Exactly, it happens on every single thread about male violence.

@LizzieW1969 Because on every thread, all men are labelled the same which is far from the truth!!
thedancingbear · 04/10/2021 16:21

@mustlovegin

if that group are institutionally racism or there is institutional misogyny

Do you realise that when you keep on saying 'institutional' this or that you are effectively discriminating a group of people? It may be ok with you, but I'm not going to entertain that concept. It's false and immoral

Fine. Knock yourself out. We'll keep trying to improve things for women and girls. You sit in your fucking cave with your fingers in your ears.
bellabasset · 04/10/2021 16:22

How long did it take between the rape being reported and the officer charged? Was he suspended during the period the charge was investigated, confined to office duties or working normally.

thedancingbear · 04/10/2021 16:23

@LizzieW1969 Because on every thread, all men are labelled the same which is far from the truth!!

I'm a feller and I completely recognise that this is not what is happening. It is not what people are saying. Male toxicity hurts me too, so even if there is no such thing as altruism, we have a common interest.

Standstheclockattentothree · 04/10/2021 16:24

@mustlovegin

if that group are institutionally racism or there is institutional misogyny

Do you realise that when you keep on saying 'institutional' this or that you are effectively discriminating a group of people? It may be ok with you, but I'm not going to entertain that concept. It's false and immoral

Now you're just being ridiculous.

So the MacPherson report was false and immoral? Because that was the wording used in the report. Do you think Doreen Lawrence would agree with you?

And Sue Fish was being false and immoral? As a Chief Constable, she'd obviously have no idea at all what goes on in a police force would she?

MarieIVanArkleStinks · 04/10/2021 16:26

This is so stupid it’s not even worth engaging with.

I don’t know if you are on a wind up or you seriously don’t understand what institutional means. Either way, you need to go back to basics as you’re understanding is woeful.

@pelosi, indeed.

I've recently been made aware through someone working in this arena that some constabularies themselves acknowledge that misogyny is rife institutionally. They have, as a consequence, shown a certain degree of commitment to tackling this. Not all of them by any means; some are as tone deaf as ever. But others as as horrified as the general populace about the senseless murder of Sarah Everard, and are committed to doing better.

That is not possible, ever, unless you look the problem in the face and admit it exists to start with.

Some inroads have been made (again, in some not all constabularies) about stamping out the rot of racism. There's a long way still to go with this. But work is being done.

Do what the above poster (disingenuously and dangerously) does, stick your fingers in your ears and go la, la, la, I'm not listening, and you will never address the issue in any meaningful way, and the lot of women will continue, not only not to improve, but to go backwards as we are currently doing.

It IS an institutional problem. That's because a culture has been fostered within it where this behaviour is permissible. It IS a sex class. You only have to look at the statistics of which sex is disproportionately harmed or killed at the hands of the other.

'They're not all like that' is actually wide aside of the fucking point.

vivainsomnia · 04/10/2021 16:37

we reform the police
Yeah ok, great. How do you plan to do this?

DrunkenKoala · 04/10/2021 16:42

@FOJN

I don’t know when allegations were first made, a pp said the saw a report that it was recently due to the media coverage of the Sarah Everard case, but I’ve not been able to find any info myself as I’m curious about it.

Sky news were reporting that today’s hearing was at magistrates and 1 Nov is crown court but no details as to why - I’m guessing to set a court date and maybe a plea hearing although he’s strenuously denying it already.

pelosi · 04/10/2021 16:44

@MarieIVanArkleStinks completely agree. We’ve even got a former Chief Constable saying there in institutional misogyny but I guess she’s a woman she should just concentrate on looking ‘pristine’.

Pumperthepumper · 04/10/2021 16:44

@vivainsomnia

we reform the police Yeah ok, great. How do you plan to do this?
I’ll tell you - but first you have to tell me how you’re going to make changes if we have to wait until every single police officer who commits a crime is convicted, if we can’t talk about it beforehand.
Tinpotspectator · 04/10/2021 16:48

This bit of the article is important-

extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”

MarieIVanArkleStinks · 04/10/2021 17:10

@Tinpotspectator

This bit of the article is important-

extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”

Very. we should all want him to have a fair trial. It's the best possible hope of justice.

If that trial is prejudiced, any conviction will be vulnerable to appeal. If he's not guilty he should be vindicated, if he is, and happened to get off on a technicality, it would be a travesty.

LakieLady · 04/10/2021 17:12

[quote Hdhdjejdj]Moving onto a case we can discuss, I wonder how many people are aware of this case.
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/police-officer-assault-autistic-boy-attack-school-b1917378.html[/quote]
That has literally made me feel sick. That poor child.

I can't believe that cunt got away with just a fine.

DaveCoaches · 04/10/2021 18:43

news.sky.com/story/police-officer-on-trial-accused-of-raping-and-impregnating-woman-after-night-out-drinking-12426074

Another police officer on trial at the moment. There is no suggestion he met her through the police or abused his position but it’s not a great week for the police really.

Hdhdjejdj · 04/10/2021 18:52

I’m so sorry @LakieLady. It is an incredibly traumatic thing to watch. It is important to talk about these things though so they can’t hide in the shadows.

skodadoda · 04/10/2021 19:01

[quote KikoLemons]**@YerAWizardHarry I'm so sorry to hear about your son.

Unfortunately we live in times when being seen to be "virtuous" by way of attacking and hurting anyone who we preceive not to be (or those associated with them) is the name of the game.

Bad policmen are (for a few weeks anyway) the new folk devils. Of course the issue needs addressing. No-one is denying that. But by bullying children??? And why?? Only to make yourself seem virtuous???[/quote]
I agree with you.

Mothersister · 04/10/2021 19:08

@GnomeDePlume

There was an interesting article in The Telegraph over the weekend (sorry, I cant link as it was behind a paywall) about an anonymous study being carried out where numerous officers are frightened to whistleblow about unacceptable behaviour of fellow officers because of the personal risk to themselves.

There is a genuine fear amongst officers that if they report a fellow officer that they will find themselves unable to call for backup if a situation turns violent while on patrol.

Address this problem and officers will be more comfortable turning in the bad apples before they start to rot the barrel.

Officers are frightened to whistleblow. I worked in a department with a dozen other officers. One of the supervisors used to work half a day regularly, she was never there when you needed her, she used to bring her kids into work. She was generally a lazy and useless bastard. She also made homophobic comments to a gay person in the department. Every single person in that department had the same low opinion of her and was sick of her getting away with that behaviour. Two of us spoke up and complained about her. We naively thought everyone would speak up. They didn’t. There was just the two of us.

The supervisor was moved out of the department but remained in the same Police station. So we had to see her every day. It was actually very traumatic having to deal with her as she was extremely awkward and uncooperative. I lost all faith in our complaints process and never spoke up ever again about anything I saw.

FOJN · 04/10/2021 19:14

DrunkenKoala

Thank you.

I've started wondering if the warning from the CPS about coverage is more about protecting them (in light of the Sarah Everard case) than ensuring a fair trial. I am deeply cynical.

YourFinestPantaloons · 04/10/2021 19:24

@Pumperthepumper

But teachers - quite rightly - lose their job if they are violent to somebody, unlike police officers

And, just to add, I can’t think of a single circumstance where someone would have concerns about conduct of a teacher around children and nickname them The Paedo and do absolutely nothing about it.

I know you’d love to pretend this model we see in the police is rife in other professions @mustlovegin but we all know it isn’t. The police force is very unique in its ratio of authority and corruption.

Absolutely this.

Teachers are (again, rightly) held to account in every little thing they hear do and don't report. We are held to standards which almost doubt our trust - for example we have to have a door open, or propped open, when having private conversations with pupils. And ideally two teachers in the room. You should see the procedures for residentials, how we ensure children have a same-sex teacher nearby and how we ensure there's no room hopping. We get barely any sleep for doing shifts in the corridor to ensure pupil safety. The standard is impressively high. So why can't it be for the police?

YourFinestPantaloons · 04/10/2021 19:25

@vivainsomnia

You are happy to sit and be a rape apologist, try and silence women talking about rape and centre men, but I have to mind my language? Are you 10 years old or something?* You are totally out of line calling be a rape apologist.

I won't sink to your level of insults, it's not my style.

Lol at this coming form someone is ho thinks women should STFU about rape.

But yeah don't sink yourself low 🥴

YourFinestPantaloons · 04/10/2021 19:29

@MarshmallowSwede

Ladies, ladies, ladies.. don’t you see? The problem isn’t police officers raping and murdering women, the problem isn’t police officers being “accused” of rape, the problem isn’t police officers taking pics of two dead women in their car and sharing the photos in a WhatsApp group amongst themselves, the problem isn’t police manhandling women at a vigil… the problem is you razor toothed harpies talking about rape.

If you shrews talked about rape less and male violence less then it would go away. This all really is your own fault.

  • this is pretty much what’s being said anytime anyone dare say something needs to change.
Brava!
YourFinestPantaloons · 04/10/2021 19:30

@vivainsomnia

this is pretty much what’s being said anytime anyone dare say something needs to change I've only said one thing on this thread: that I don't assume someone is a rapist until they has been judged and sentenced as such.

How this has been blown to meaning that I am a rape apologist is utterly bewildering!

It's incredible how angry people can totally lose perspective in their quest for hate.

Again @vivainsomnia re the 99% of rapists who get away with it - do you assume those women are liars?
YourFinestPantaloons · 04/10/2021 19:31

@vivainsomnia

I think you’d probably not think that if someone you know said they’d been raped. I’m not sure you’d wait until they’d been judged and sentenced before you believed her. Or maybe you would Indeed, but I don't expect anyone knows the person's involved here so it is irrelevant.

I also wouldn't want to be the mum of the boy who was accused of rape, judged, dirtied, rejected by everyone around him, even after she retracted her accusations and admitted she'd lied.

My point is that we cannot judge unless we know all the specificity of a case.

Which boy is this??
YourFinestPantaloons · 04/10/2021 19:46

@vivainsomnia

Yeah, she’s irrelevant. Just a rape victim, just a victim of rape by the police. Who cares?

You mean as was this one www.google.com/amp/s/www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/hero-police-officer-arrested-false-13760104.amp

Is it really so hard to accept that maybe just maybe, the accused is innocent.

Start at read about women being raped and you'll get my sympathy and support but you won't get me to condemned anyone not yet convicted.

WOW you found one case - well done you 👏🏼👏🏼

80,000 women are year are raped. It you focus on this.

And yes I do absolutely find it hard to believe that he might not have done it seeing as the statistics tell us false rape allegations are extremely rare, but rape convictions are low