The damning Casey report into the Metropolitan Police has painted a shocking picture of the country’s largest force as institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.
The review, commissioned in the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder, has laid bare a series of failings and appalling incidents across the force.
Here the Standard takes a look at some of the key case studies and examples highlighted by Baroness Casey in the 300-page report.
Officer tried to take own life after being ‘repeatedly raped’ by colleague
Officer A was a victim of domestic and sexual abuse, allegedly by a fellow Met officer during a long-term relationship.
She told the review how early in their relationship, the officer, X, was arrested for assaulting his ex-partner, which was dismissed by the force, leading her to think she shouldn’t come forward either.
She said the abuse steadily worsened, such that it was an “open secret on their team but few people wanted to speak up,” and that X raped her repeatedly.
In the “worst and final incident”, A told the Casey review: “He smacked me round the face, I lost consciousness, he raped me. I had a black eye, a split lip.”
She pleaded to her supervisors not to be on the same team, without revealing the reason, which was rejected.
Several months after the final incident, A reported the abuse, leading to a “protracted period” of almost two years where the allegations made their way through the Met’s system.
The ordeal led her to try and take her own life, she said. Days after the murder of Sarah Everard in 2021, she said she received a one-line email saying there would be no action taken on the case.
Female officer labelled ‘trouble maker’ after reporting colleague’s sexual assaults
The review heard from one female officer, L, who was allegedly repeatedly sexually assaulted by a more senior male officer while in the workplace.
L told the review the officer would frequently touch her inappropriately, forcing her to sit on his lap and deliberately bruising her arms while claiming he was demonstrating “officer safety moves”.
On one occasion, he masturbated in front of her in the communal changing room. She told the review that when she went to report it, she felt like she had been persuaded to “keep it in house” with misconduct proceedings.
She found out by chance that the case had been dismissed when she bumped into an officer in a corridor who said “sorry about how it went, but that’s how it goes.”
When she challenged the decision, she was labelled a trouble-maker, and told, “it’s your word against his,” and that her abuser had a “long, unblemished career in the Met”.
‘I am scared of the police’: Gay officers targeted
Two officers, C and E, came forward with harrowing details of homophobia in the Met. E, an openly gay officer, had been the target of a sustained campaign of homophobia from inside the force, the review heard.
He told Baroness Casey he had been subject to a smear campaign that alleged he was involved in party drugs and that he was having sexual relationships with senior male colleagues to earn promotions.
He was anonymously targeted on social media with homophobic slurs, calling him a “f****t” and a “c*** sucker”, and said no-one in the Met had ever acted to stem the targeted abuse.
“This will sound quite laughable. I am scared of the police. I don’t trust my own organisation,” he said.
Meanwhile officer C said colleagues were obsessed with his sex life, asking him questions such as: “Are you a giver or a taker?”
He said there was a particularly “laddy” culture when working in vans with groups of male officers with offensive comments brushed off as “banter”.
Spoiled evidence may have jeapoardised alleged rape cases
Officer G, a specialist officer working on a Sapphire team investigating rape and other sexual offences, detailed failures with evidence keeping which would have potentially allowed sexual offenders to walk free.
She told how freezers containing evidence which needed to preserve physical evidence were so packed that it took three officers to shut them. She claimed that countless rape kits with evidence were spoiled by the way in which they were stored.
“All the fridges used for rape kits were in bad shape, packed and ruining evidence,” the review heard.
“In the heatwave in 2022, G said that one freezer broke down and all of the evidence had to be destroyed because it could no longer be used.
“G said a general email had been sent round to this effect and that it meant that all those cases of alleged rape would be dropped.”
She had “lost count” of the number of times she had asked a colleague where the necessary evidence was before being told that it had been lost.
‘We’re not using enough force’, officer told
Separately, Officer G told Baroness Casey that senior officers pushed to meet targets for use of force, alleging they said: “We’ve looked at the figures, use of force isn’t being used enough.”
She recounted a session where a group of new officers shown numerous examples where force had been used against the guidelines of “proportionate, legal, accountable and necessary” but were presented as being good practice.
One example included footage of a Taser being used on a man who was in hospital, wearing a hospital gown and not presenting any sign of danger.
She said the examples were so horrific that she and her fellow officers thought this was a test of their integrity.
When she questioned this, she was allegedly told: “That’s the Hendon [training school] way, and this is real life.”
Urinated on in the showers as ‘initiation ritual’
The review heard of “humiliation of junior staff” through initiation tests.
Among the reported examples were food eating challenges, people being urinated on in the shower, and a report of a person who was allegedly sexually assaulted in a shower.
One officer described women being pressured to eat whole cheesecakes until they would vomit as an initiation challenge.
Baroness Casey also heard of bags of urine being thrown at cars, male officers flicking each other’s genitals, dildos being put in coffee mugs, lockers being emptied or covered in evidence tape, and an animal put in an officer’s locker.
Bacon left in Muslim officer’s boots
Several officers described being targeted for their religious beliefs.
Baroness Casey heard there had been “a number of incidents” where Sikh officers had been picked on, including one who had his beard cut because “an officer thought it was funny”.
Another Sikh officer had his turban put into a shoe box, while a Muslim officer told the review: “I found bacon left in my boots inside my locked locker. I was horrified … I didn’t want to be branded a person who played the race card and out of fear of reprisals did not tell anyone at the time.”
Overt racism ‘not a thing of the past’
The report found that overt racism in Scotland Yard was “not a thing of the past”.
Among the appalling reports of racist behaviour and remarks include one Black female officer who was with a more senior officer when they intercepted a white woman buying drugs.
The senior officer called the member of the public a "n***** lover", a "slag", and a "dirty woman,” the report heard.
The Black officer was left feeling like she wanted to resign.
Other officers told Casey how they had been told to “shut up and get back in your caravan,” and one alleged: “In my first ever briefing on street duties I was told to ‘get out there, give a few Gypsies warnings.”
Officer groomed domestic abuse victim
A Met officer who visited the home of a domestic abuse victim “went on to cultivate an inappropriate relationship with her", the report found.
She was unaware that he had encouraged her to trust and speak to him alone, and that he had not recorded any of the evidence she gave about the abuse. This meant the original abuser would not face justice.
She received sexual messages from the officer, who cut contact when he was placed under investigation for his relationship with another vulnerable victim.
When he made contact with her again, having resigned from the force before his hearing for Gross
Misconduct, it was clear that he had been using police systems to find out information about her, despite being on restricted duties whilst under investigation.
Although they have now recorded the case and assessed it at Gross Misconduct, the Met is not planning to hold a hearing, as he was already charged with Gross Misconduct once with regards to the other vulnerable victim.
