Filth by name. . .

[Serge Forward]

Cheered me up no end, that video

 

[8ball]

Quite amazing bit of climbing there.

I’d have just insisted he’d got in the wheelie bin and that I was as confused as the copper.

 

[Lurdan]

Concerned that their behaviour is starting to be favourably compared to that of Members of Parliament the Met are working hard to rebuild their reputation.

Ex-constables Paul Hefford and Sukhdev Jeer


Met police officers fired after sharing racist joke about Meghan - Guardian

Two Metropolitan police officers have been sacked after posting offensive messages in a group chat, including a racist joke about the Duchess of Sussex. PC Sukhdev Jeer and PC Paul Hefford, who worked in a unit at Bethnal Green police station in east London, posted inappropriate, highly offensive and discriminatory content on WhatsApp in 2018. (...)
Messages from Richard Hammond, a former officer who was also in the group, were regarded as misconduct by the tribunal panel. (...)

Jeer, described as the “most active contributing member” of the group, posted a series of “highly discriminatory and offensive” pictures and messages. It was heard that in one message, Jeer shared an image of a “golliwog” toy that was captioned: “A sneak preview at Meghan’s wedding dress.” Another picture of a young boy in a hoodie captioned “Monkey in the jungle”. A further post said: “Everyone is so politically correct these days. You can’t even say, ‘Black paint,’ you have to say, ‘Tyrone, can you please paint that wall?”’ (...)

The tribunal heard that PC Hefford posted a message of two black men lying next to two white women. It was captioned: “Girls’ trip to Jamaica. One came back pregnant, the other came back with syphilis. (Just kidding, they’re both still missing.)” (...)
Hammond also sent a “discriminatory message” about the London borough of Tower Hamlets, it was said.

 

[GarveyLives]

On 28 July 2021, Sussex Police arrested serving Metropolitan Police officer, Sergeant Laurence Knight, who is attached to Met Detention, Stoke Newington Police Station, after a woman reported being raped on Brighton beach on 17 July 2021. Sergeant Laurence Knight was released on bail, pending further enquiries.

On 27 May 2022, Sergeant Laurence Knight was summoned to appear at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on 23 June 2022 to face a charge of rape. Sergeant Laurence Knight, who was not on duty at the time of the reported offence, has been suspended from duty.

This morning, serving Metropolitan Police officer Sergeant Laurence Knight, who is attached to Met Detention, the Metropolitan Police's custody command, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court charged with rape:

Serving Met Police officer 'raped woman on Brighton beach' after meeting her on stag do

(Source: PA)

Sergeant Laurence Knight was granted bail on the condition he does not contact any prosecution witnesses, and will next appear at Southwark Crown Court on 2 August 2022.

 

[GarveyLives]

Serving Metropolitan Police Special Constable Paul Hoile, who is based in their North West Command Unit, has been charged with anal rape, two counts of oral rape and an offence under section four of the Sexual Offences Act in relation to an incident on Sheriffhales Drive, Lilleshall, on 5 July 2022.

Special Constable Paul Hoile is due to appear at Kidderminster Magistrates’ Court later today.​

 

[equationgirl]

Slightly different reporting from BBC on Paul Hoile - three counts of rape plus one other:

Met Police special constable charged with rape in Shropshire

Paul Hoile, who has been suspended from the Met, appears in court accused of four offences.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Lurdan]

Met officer charged with a number of offences - Metropolitan Police

Following an investigation by officers from the South East Command Unit, on Monday, 11 July PC Thomas Andrews was charged with:

• ABH
• Criminal Damage
• Three counts of intentional strangulation. (...)

The charges follow an incident that happened around 01:00hrs on Saturday, 9 July in Brockley Rise, SE23. Patrolling officers had been alerted by a member of the public to an incident. (...)

A woman at the location, who was known to the man, reported the she had been assaulted and her phone damaged.

 

[equationgirl]

Three counts of international strangulation (can strangulation be anything but intentional, I wonder? One does not tend to unintentionally strangle people). Jesus Christ.

 

[existentialist]

Three counts of international strangulation (can strangulation be anything but intentional, I wonder? One does not tend to unintentionally strangle people). Jesus Christ.

Sorry but "International strangulation" got me

 

[8ball]

Sorry but "International strangulation" got me

The long, long arms of the law.

 

[Pickman's model]

Met officer charged with a number of offences - Metropolitan Police

Are there any met officers who haven't been investigated or charged left?

 

[existentialist]

Are there any met officers who haven't been investigated or charged left?

There's always going to be a few outliers.

 

[Pickman's model]

There's always going to be a few outliers.

The occasional good apple - or bad ones who fly under the radar

 

[bluescreen]

Not sure if this business re Johnson's attempt to instal Hogan Howe as the head of the National Crime Agency belongs here or in the Johnson is shit thread. But here it is anyway.

 

[DaveCinzano]

There's always going to be a few outliers.

Just mostly out-and-out liars

 

[Lurdan]

Three counts of international strangulation (can strangulation be anything but intentional, I wonder? One does not tend to unintentionally strangle people). Jesus Christ.

I was curious about 'intentional strangulation'. There is such a thing as as 'unintentional strangulation' - kids games or 'pranks' gone wrong, ditto sex games of course. I'm wondering if the wording relates to the brand new crimes of non-fatal strangulation and non-fatal suffocation which came into force at the start of last month, as part of last years Domestic Abuse Act. Both require it to be an intentional act, but don't require there to be an intention to cause injury.

Prosecutors should note that it requires an intentional act, and that the offence cannot be committed recklessly. It is difficult to envision how non-fatal strangulation could be committed recklessly but if this arises prosecutors should consider whether an offence of non-fatal suffocation is appropriate.

CPS guidelines page here.

(Usual caveats: I am not a lawyer. I hate lawyers. Well apart from the very nice one who acted for me once).

 

[muscovyduck]

I was curious about 'intentional strangulation'. There is such a thing as as 'unintentional strangulation' - kids games or 'pranks' gone wrong, ditto sex games of course. I'm wondering if the wording relates to the brand new crimes of non-fatal strangulation and non-fatal suffocation which came into force at the start of last month, as part of last years Domestic Abuse Act. Both require it to be an intentional act, but don't require there to be an intention to cause injury.

CPS guidelines page here.

(Usual caveats: I am not a lawyer. I hate lawyers. Well apart from the very nice one who acted for me once).

I thought sex game gone wrong couldn't be used as a defence any more?

 

[Lurdan]

I thought sex game gone wrong couldn't be used as a defence any more?

That was what was intended with last years Act. Rough sex defence: What will a change in the law mean? - Independent back in 2020 (archived)

In theory, the “rough sex” defence shouldn’t work for defendants in England and Wales; for almost 30 years case law since the 1993 R v. Brown test case, which dictated that you cannot “consent” in a meaningful sense to having serious violence or death inflicted upon you.
Anything more than “transient or trifling” injuries were deemed not able to be consented to.
“This has been the case on paper for nearly 30 years,” says Perry. “But in practice giving a claim of ‘sex games gone wrong’ gives too good a chance of lesser charge, a lighter sentence or death or assault not being investigated as a crime at all.”

The proposed changes will close the loophole that allows this defence to persist - mirroring suggestions made by MPs Harriet Harman and Mark Garnier.
Both politicians proposed to move the case law of R v. Brown into statute and to introduce a Director of Public Prosecutions review when prosecutors are proposing to charge a lesser crime, like manslaughter, in a domestic homicide.
There has also been a campaign to make "non-fatal strangulation" a punishable crime, as often it is only charged as common assault, despite being a known high-risk indicator in domestic abuse cases leading to homicide.
These additions to the law will make it more likely that consent cases are successfully prosecuted in England and Wales.
We Can’t Consent To This also want strangulation to be recognised as a “serious assault” under the proposed changes.

The Domestic Abuse Act appears to give effect to these proposals. We shall see whether it leads to the desired outcome.

My point was rather different - there are cases of consensual sex games which go wrong and are thus 'unintentional'. Some of these might still be offences if A "was reckless as to whether B would suffer serious harm". This is different to the kinds of strangulation assault, very common in domestic violence cases, which these new crimes of non-fatal strangulation and non-fatal suffocation are particularly aimed at. However the act still allows for a defence that the alleged victim consented, unless 'serious harm' results and this was intentional or the result of 'recklessness'. 'Serious harm' includes the sort of offences covered by 'actual bodily harm' so the bar at which the defence ceases to be available isn't set very high.

From the CPS guidelines I linked to above, referring to these new crimes:

Section 75A(2) SCA 2015 provides a statutory defence for A to show that B consented to the strangulation or other act. However, this is a limited by section 75A(3) SCA 2015 which states the defence does not apply if:

• B suffers serious harm as a result of the strangulation or other act, and
• A either –
  • intended to cause B serious harm, or
  • was reckless as to whether B would suffer serious harm.

The legislation goes on to provide a definition of ‘serious harm’ in section 75A(6) SCA 2015 as:

• grievous bodily harm (GBH) within the meaning of section 18 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861,
• wounding within the meaning of section 18 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, or
• actual bodily harm (ABH), within the meaning of section 47 Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

This gives legislative effect to the decision in R v Brown [1993] UKHL 19 which decided that consent by the victim to the infliction of any injury amounting to ABH, unlawful wounding or GBH did not provide a suspect or defendant with a defence.

The fact PC Thomas Andrews has been charged with ABH as well as three counts of intentional strangulation suggests the statutory defence wouldn't be open to him.

(usual caveats redux 'I am not now and have never been a fucking lawyer' etc etc)

 

[GarveyLives]

Serving Metropolitan Police officer PC Emeri Ratucoko, who is attached to their Central West Command Unit, was charged by post on 30 May 2022 with sexual assault and a public order offence. He will appear at Wimbledon Magistrates' Court today. The charges relate to an investigation into a report that a woman was sexually assaulted at a bar in Kingston in February 2022. PC Emeri Ratucoko was off-duty at the time of the incident.

PC Emeri Ratucoko has been placed on restricted duties since 7 February 2022, while criminal proceedings are ongoing. In his current role with the Metropolitan Police he has no face to face contact with the public and no involvement in the investigation of sexual offences.

On 13 July 2022, serving Metropolitan Police officer, PC Emeri Ratucoko, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court facing charges of sexual assault and using threatening or abusive words or behaviour.

It is alleged that PC Emeri Ratucoko, who was off-duty at the time of the alleged offences, grabbed a woman's breast at a bar in Kingston and then became involved in an altercation with the manager of the bar.

(Source: as stated in image)​

PC Emeri Ratucoko elected trial by jury and was granted unconditional bail until his next appearance at Kingston Crown Court, scheduled for 10 August 2022.

 

[Dystopiary]

This is nasty.

A Met police officer has been filmed repeatedly punching a young Black man. The officer who was with him didn't seem to attempt to stop the assault. It's a good job someone filmed the incident.

Met Police officer filmed punching black man after he was forced to the ground

Ms Henry grabbed her mobile and started filming as the second officer punched the detainee ‘five times either in the torso or the head’.

Horrified, she yelled ‘What are you doing? Why are you punching him? I can see what you are doing’ before adding ‘I am recording you’.

The 24-year-old rushed downstairs, wearing nothing but her dressing gown, to confront the police about what she alleges was a ‘racially motivated’ attack.

Rochelle Henry, the woman who saw and recorded what was happening, said that the copper looked guilty, told her to go back inside, and that he was "going to arrest me on obstruction grounds and he kept telling me to shush numerous times."

The Met said the two officers were responding to a report of a stolen bicycle, and that's why they stopped the young man and his friend as potential suspects. The friend - who is white - was not handcuffed like the other guy was.

Ms Henry said, "Both officers were on top of the black man, while the white man was standing on the side not knowing what to do."

He kept shouting “please get off him, it’s his bike, the key is in his pocket”.

And it was his bike.

The Met have said "no misconduct was identified."

Ms Henry has set up a petition:

Sign the Petition

 

[bluescreen]

Voyeurism and CA images. Discovered covertly filming woman in shop changing room, then images found on his computer when his home was searched. Officer suspended immediately and resigned before he could be dismissed, but escapes immediate custody.

Met PC who filmed woman changing and made indecent images of child walks free | ITV News

Former Met PC Swaleh Chaudhry was seen filming a woman as she was getting changed at Primark, and possessed extreme pornography and indecent images of a child. | ITV News London

www.itv.com

 

[existentialist]

Voyeurism and CA images. Discovered covertly filming woman in shop changing room, then images found on his computer when his home was searched. Officer suspended immediately and resigned before he could be dismissed, but escapes immediate custody.

Met PC who filmed woman changing and made indecent images of child walks free | ITV News

Former Met PC Swaleh Chaudhry was seen filming a woman as she was getting changed at Primark, and possessed extreme pornography and indecent images of a child. | ITV News London

www.itv.com

And we wonder why police officers seem to feel so entitled to engage in oppressive behaviours like these when they appear to get off so lightly when they are caught?

 

[two sheds]

I think judges feel that they've suffered enough

 

[JimW]

Reading that distressing story of the woman who died in her flat and the housing association ignored all sorts of requests from neighbours to check on her, also found this from our sworn guardians:

By October 2020 the housing association had contacted the Metropolitan Police to perform a welfare check on Ms Seleoane and an officer incorrectly told them she was safe and well.

The force said that the staff member had since left the force but would have faced a professional standards enquiry if they had still been employed.

Peabody housing association 'sorry for our part' after leaving woman dead in her flat for more than two years

Residents had reported the presence of maggots and flies to Peabody Group "within weeks" of the date she had last been confirmed alive, but the housing association closed the case the month after.

news.sky.com

So basically a flat lie in a situation where a person's life may have been at stake.

 

[equationgirl]

I don't think Peabody HA has the best of reputations anyway, and this certainly won't have helped. They need to get their shit together too.

 

[GarveyLives]

The Metropolitan Police has made a further eight voluntary referrals to the Independent Office for Police Conduct involving strip searches of children aged between 14 and 17:

Metropolitan Police makes eight more child strip-search referrals ...

​

Metropolitan Police strip-search five children every week without first arresting them, LBC reveals

(Source: as stated in image)

"Data obtained by LBC shows 799 children aged between 10 and 17 were strip-searched whilst not in custody, from 2019 to 2021."

What a legacy.​

 

[Pickman's model]

Metropolitan Police strip-search five children every week without first arresting them, LBC reveals

(Source: as stated in image)

"Data obtained by LBC shows 799 children aged between 10 and 17 were strip-searched whilst not in custody, from 2019 to 2021."

What a legacy.​

You must have utter contempt for everyone who has asked you to stop posting that picture of cressida dick

 

[DaveCinzano]

You must have utter contempt for everyone who has asked you to stop posting that picture of cressida dick

All complaints were passed to the IOPC which saw no reason for further action

 

[Pickman's model]

All complaints were passed to the IOPC which saw no reason for further action

Independent office for pictures of cressida

 

[Dystopiary]

Reading that distressing story of the woman who died in her flat and the housing association ignored all sorts of requests from neighbours to check on her, also found this from our sworn guardians:

Peabody housing association 'sorry for our part' after leaving woman dead in her flat for more than two years

Residents had reported the presence of maggots and flies to Peabody Group "within weeks" of the date she had last been confirmed alive, but the housing association closed the case the month after.

news.sky.com

So basically a flat lie in a situation where a person's life may have been at stake.

Looks like the police were contacted about Ms Seleoane at least twice before the housing association finally did in October 2020.

[Neighbour Christine] called the police twice. “I told them my neighbour was missing and there was a bad smell. They came and stood outside the door and said they couldn’t smell anything. They said perhaps she had gone away and left a pet behind, or perhaps some food had gone off and was rotting. I knew she didn’t have a pet; you’re not allowed them in this building. I wanted them to break the door down, but they said they couldn’t without a warrant. They said the landlord needed to deal with it.” The second time she called the police – she can’t remember precisely when – she found their response even less helpful. “They seemed quite annoyed – like we were just a bunch of nosy neighbours. They said they couldn’t do anything.”

This is not an easy read:

‘What times we live in that nobody missed her’: the tragedy of Sheila Seleoane