Serial rapist Metropolitan Police officer allowed to join the force 'because of drive to improve diversity'
A review published on Thursday found that thousands of police officers and staff were not properly checked amid pressure during a national recruitment drive from July 2019 to March 2023.
A serial rapist Metropolitan Police officer was allowed to join the force - despite previous accusations against him - because of a drive to improve diversity, a review has found.
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PC Cliff Mitchell applied to join the Met in 2020, but the vetting process flagged up a previous allegation of raping a child in 2017, and his application was rejected.
However, a vetting panel, made up partly of senior officers, overturned the decision because the force wanted to improve the number of officers from ethnic minorities.
PC Mitchell went on to carry out a “campaign of rape” against two victims, including a child under the age of 13, while he was a serving officer.
He is one of 131 officers and staff at the Met who were not properly vetted and went on to commit criminal offences and misconduct.
PC Mitchell was jailed for life and sentenced to serve at least 13 years after he was found guilty of kidnapping and rape.
Read more: Police launch urgent appeal after woman 'sexually assaulted' in city centre
Another Met officer, PC David Carrick, known as one of the UK’s worst ever sexual offenders, was also not vetted properly.
Carrick, who was given 37 life sentences for his crimes, was not properly vetted in 2017, with checks failing to reveal an allegation of domestic abuse against him.
The 131 cases were revealed as part of a vetting review that looked at the 10 years up to the end of March 2023.
Other serious crimes committed by the officers and staff include drug use, racism, violence and affray.
The review published on Thursday found that thousands of police officers and staff were not properly checked amid pressure during a national recruitment drive from July 2019 to March 2023.
Senior officers at the Met chose not to meet national guidelines amid a scramble to find 4,557 recruits in a three-and-a-half year period.
The deviations from standard practice meant thousands of references were not checked, and shortcuts in vetting led to the recruitment and retention of some officers and staff who should not have been in the force and contributed to police-perpetrated harm and damaged public trust, it said.
Under the PUP, forces in England and Wales were expected to recruit 20,000 officers within three and a half years to replace those cut during austerity, and funding was ringfenced and therefore lost if targets were not met.
The report found: "The review identifies a series of decisions, some of which were taken in isolation, which all compounded together and inadvertently increased risk."
In total, 5,073 officers and staff were not properly vetted, of whom 4,528 had no Special Branch vetting checks, 431 had no Ministry of Defence (MoD) checks, and 114 had a vetting refusal overturned by a Met internal panel.
Another 3,338 who were due for vetting renewal had only limited checks.
The Met estimates that around 1,200 people who joined the force may have had their vetting refused under normal practices, out of around 27,300 applications.
Separately, 17,355 officers and staff did not have their references properly checked, if at all, between 2018 and April 2022.
The Met has not checked each of these files, but estimates that around 250 would not have got a job if their references had been checked.
Some of the "deviations" in vetting practices led to individuals being kept on who contributed to "police perpetrated harm" and damaged the trust of the public, the report said.
The review said senior officers faced political pressure and had to meet recruitment targets or lose funding to other forces.
Since current Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley took over the role in September 2022, 1,500 officers have been sacked in what has been billed as a bid to clean up the force. He was also a high-ranking Met officer between 2011 and 2018.
The report said that out of 730 vetting cases reviewed, 39 officers and staff had to be re-checked, with 23 cleared.
One officer resigned, another was sacked for a different reason, six cases are ongoing, and eight have been referred to potentially face dismissal.
Assistant Commissioner Rachel Williams said: "In publishing this report today, we are being open and transparent about past vetting and recruitment practices that led, in some cases, to unsuitable people joining the Met.
"We have been honest with Londoners on many occasions about previous shortcomings in our professional standards approach. This review is part of our ongoing work to demand the highest standards across the Met so the public can have trust and confidence in our officers.
"We found that some historical practices did not meet the strengthened hiring and vetting standards we have today. We identified these issues ourselves and have fixed them quickly while making sure any risk to the public has been properly and effectively managed.
"It is important to highlight that the Met recruits hundreds of officers and staff every year - the overwhelming majority of exemplary character who are dedicated to protecting the public."
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has launched an investigation into the Met’s recruitment and vetting processes, which will be led by police watchdog HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary
She said: “Abandoning vetting checks on officers was a dereliction of the Met’s duty to keep London safe.
“Londoners rightly expect officers to undergo robust checks so that the brightest and best – not criminals - are policing our streets.
“I have asked the Chief Inspector of Constabulary to carry out an inspection as I seek to restore trust in the force’s ability to protect and serve the public.”