Former senior Met officer has case to answer for gross misconduct

The Independent Office for Police Conduct has decided that a former senior Metropolitan Police officer has a case to answer for gross misconduct following an investigation into complaints about the Metropolitan Police’s failure to investigate two individuals who are alleged to have made false allegations.

The individuals, known as Witness A and Witness B, are alleged to have made false accusations about a number of high profile people during Operation Midland, an MPS investigation into allegations of non-recent sexual abuse.

Sir Richard Henriques, a former High Court judge, reviewed Operation Midland in 2016 and made a number of recommendations including that offences of attempting to pervert the course of justice should be considered against Witnesses A and B and that any investigation should be carried out by another force.

Our investigation began in March 2022 following two complaints by individuals who were adversely affected by Witness A and B’s allegations.

IOPC Director Amanda Rowe said:

“We decided the former senior officer may have breached police professional standards of behaviour relating to honesty and integrity regarding comments made to the media about Operation Midland in March 2016 and comments subsequently made to Sir Richard Henriques in August 2016.  

“We also found that by failing to follow Sir Richard’s recommendation when it was made in 2016, and after it was again brought to the force’s attention following complaints in 2017 and 2020, the service provided by the Met was unacceptable and we have upheld these complaints. The force conducted several reviews which all concluded no investigation was needed.  We found those reviews were flawed, did not consider all of the evidence and their rationales were not sound. We have also recommended the Met apologise to the individuals affected.”

Given the officer retired more than 12 months before our investigation began, the IOPC is obliged under relevant legislation to enter into a consultation period with concerned parties regarding a disciplinary hearing.