REVEALED: One of Britain’s top policemen is being investigated for serious sexual offences – but ‘highly-experienced’ officer remains on duty and his name is kept secret to ‘protect his right to privacy’, sparking fury among campaigners
- A woman has accused the policeman of serious sexual crimes in 2015 and 2016
- Details of the case remain secret due to legal precedent protecting privacy
One of Britain’s top police officers is secretly under investigation for alleged serious sexual offences, the Mail can reveal.
A woman has accused the policeman, who holds a senior role at one of the biggest forces in the country, of serious sexual crimes which allegedly took place in 2015 and 2016.
But details of the case remain shrouded in secrecy due to legal precedent which established that identifying suspects before they are charged infringes their right to privacy and family life.
The highly experienced officer has previously had a leading role in setting standards in child sexual abuse investigations and has held senior positions at law enforcement agencies around the UK.
High-level sources confirmed he was a suspect in the investigation and the police watchdog said it had received a referral from his force about one of its senior officers.
Details of the case remain shrouded in secrecy due to legal precedent which established that identifying suspects before they are charged infringes their right to privacy and family life
But astonishingly the officer has not been suspended despite having met detectives as a suspect in a live investigation.
The investigating force confirmed it had spoken with a suspect, though no arrests had been made. It is understood the officer was not formally interviewed under caution and that he strongly denies the allegations.
But the case has prompted fury from campaigners, and comes after the College of Policing was accused of attempting to usher in a new era of secret justice with proposals to let police keep secret the names of suspects charged with crimes.
The college last week scrapped the proposals to give forces across England and Wales the option of not releasing identities of those charged, instead naming only on a ‘case-by-case basis’.
But campaigners last night said the case represented a new threat to open justice and that there was a concerning level of secrecy about a probe involving such a powerful individual.
Deniz Uour, deputy director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said it was worrying that, following a series of high-profile instances of police-perpetrated violence against women, a senior officer being investigated for such serious offences would escape public scrutiny and remain in post.
‘Now, more than ever, we need greater transparency, scrutiny and accountability,’ she added.
‘We need to see police showing they take reports of sexual offences seriously, especially reports against police officers and staff.
The highly experienced officer has previously had a leading role in setting standards in child sexual abuse investigations and has held senior positions at law enforcement agencies
‘The fact that an officer with such power and seniority appears to still be working and potentially accessing vulnerable people while investigations are carried out illustrates the lack of meaningful consequences police perpetrators of abuse face.’
Former Victims Commissioner Dame Vera Baird said deliberate attempts to shroud cases involving senior police staff in secrecy could have a huge impact on confidence in policing, already suffering following a string of scandals.
She added: ‘The reputational risk to this individual does not outweigh the risk to the force or wider policing.’ Debaleena Dasgupta, solicitor at the Centre for Women’s Justice, said: ‘Victims of police-perpetrated abuse face multiple barriers to reporting, so the Press naming the alleged perpetrator can encourage other victims, if there are any, to come forward too.
‘It was only after hearing that David Carrick had been arrested that his other victims felt able to report their abuse.
‘When someone has not been arrested… it is rarely appropriate for him to be named at that stage. The real question is why, if a credible allegation has been made, hasn’t the officer been arrested yet?
‘Where the suspect is not a police officer, arrest is usually the first step. Many will rightly be asking whether he is being afforded special treatment because of his status.’
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