the times | Thursday February 3 2022 13
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racism, homophobia and misconduct.
Priti Patel, the home secretary, told
MPs yesterday that the scandal showed
a “failure of leadership in some
quarters”. She told the Commons home
affairs committee that there were prob-
lems with the “culture” in the force.
“I do think there are some very, very
serious and significant matters that
need, not just following up but further
investigation,” she said.
The disclosures have added to pres-
sure on the Met and Dame Cressida
Dick, its commissioner. The force was
struggling to salvage its reputation after
Wayne Couzens abducted, raped and
murdered Sarah Everard in March. In
December two constables were jailed
for sharing photos of the murdered sis-
ters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry.
Dick was summoned to an urgent
meeting yesterday with Sadiq Khan,
the mayor of London, who was “dis-
gusted” by the latest scandal.
The IOPC found that officers at
Charing Cross police station routinely
exchanged highly sexualised, violent
and discriminatory messages that they
later defended as “banter”. Derogatory
remarks were made about gay people,
Muslims and disabled people. The Met
confirmed last night that of the 14 offi-cers investigated, nine were still serv-
ing. One officer who resigned before
facing a misconduct meeting has re-
turned as a contractor. Another, disci-
plined for misconduct for failing to re-
port wrongdoing, has since been pro-
moted from constable to sergeant.
McLoughlin-Goodwin, known as
PC A, and a second officer, PC B, were
found guilty of gross misconduct at a
hearing last year, which considered the
full extent of the IOPC inquiry.
The IOPC and the Met have not
commented on which officers were re-
sponsible for which comments.
The Met has refused to name
McLoughlin-Goodwin, even though he
was the subject of a public criminal con-
viction. When the behaviour of
McLoughlin-Goodwin and PC B
reached the disciplinary hearing in
September, the independent chairman
gave them anonymity due to concerns
over the welfare of one of the officers.
Dick appointed Baroness Casey of
Blackstock to review the Met’s culture
after the Couzens case. Patel appointed
Dame Elish Angiolini QC to chair a
two-part inquiry prompted by the case.
Patel told MPs: “We have seen... too
many instances where, in policing, we
just see the most appalling behaviours.”- She said officers removed her
clothes because they did not know any-
thing about her and she might harm
herself. “I could have been a Jewish
woman. I could have been a Muslim
woman. To me that looked like a teen-
ager’s outfit. That just shows they
wanted to humiliate me,” she said
The force’s professional standards
department initially rejected her com-
plaint but she later successfully sued for
wrongful arrest. She subsequently re-
ceived an apology, though it did not di-
rectly address her claim that she was
forced to remove her clothes, and
£45,000 in compensation.
Sir Peter Fahy, former chief of Great-
er Manchester police, said officers
needed to be better equipped at dealing
with religious and cultural sensitivities.
Hertfordshire police said in a state-
ment: “We accepted that, regrettably,
we didn’t get everything right on this
occasion four years ago... The force
agreed to settle the matter in recogni-
tion of the distress caused.”Fiona HamiltonAn officer at a police station being
investigated over racism and misogyny
threatened to murder a female col-
league, The Times has learnt.
James McLoughlin-Goodchild, a
constable at Charing Cross, was under
investigation for sexual harassment of a
female colleague when he threatened
to stab her and two other officers if they
came to arrest him. He was sacked by
the Met in 2019 after being convicted at
Hendon magistrates’ court of sending
an offensive, indecent, obscene or
menacing message.
According to court reports, he said: “I
will kill them, I will murder them if I see
them. I know where they live and what
cars they drive. If they come to my
home and arrest me they are going to
get stabbed. I will not go to prison alive.”
He remained under investigation
after being sacked for a series of dis-
turbing messages that were the subject
of an Independent Office for Police
Conduct (IOPC) investigation.
A full report into the inquiry found
that officers at Charing Cross station
joked about rape, killing black children
and domestic violence. The watchdog
detailed “disgraceful” misogyny,Police have apologised to a woman who
was left naked in a cell for three hours
after being wrongfully arrested.
Yvonne Farrell said she was “humili-
ated” by officers from Hertfordshire
police after she was asked to remove her
clothing and given a replacement “crop
top and hot pants” to wear in the
CCTV-monitored cell.
“I’m a 50-plus-year-old woman and a
Rastafarian. Where are they going,Rastafarian woman was stripped and left naked in cell
giving me those items of clothing? I
called them back and I said, ‘Listen, this
is not suitable clothing. I need some-
thing long to cover’,” she told the BBC.
Police guidance says custody officers
may remove an arrested person’s
clothing if they believe it could be used
to escape, cause physical injury, dam-
age property or interfere with evidence.
Farrell was arrested in Stevenage
after refusing to give her name to police.
She had been sitting on her husband’s
car as it was to be towed away in AugustGeorge SandemanSpring watch William, three, checks up on the snowdrops at Cambridge University Botanic Gardens, which are thriving despite nearly three weeks without rainJAMES LINSELL-CLARK/SWNSOfficer at Charing Cross station
threatened to stab female colleague
Dick ‘put on
notice’ over
toxic culture
at the Met
Fiona Hamilton Crime Editor
Matt Dathan Home Affairs Editor
Two politicians who oversaw Dame
Cressida Dick extending her contract
as head of the Metropolitan police put
her on notice yesterday to overhaul the
force’s toxic culture.
Priti Patel, the home secretary, linked
“failures of leadership” to the revelation
that officers, based mainly at Charing
Cross, joked about rape, killing black
children and domestic violence. Patel
said she was talking specifically about
Dick. The home secretary said there
were “serious and significant” issues at
the Met, which has been at the centre of
scandals about officer behaviour.
Dick attended a 90-minute meeting
with Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London,
who had supported her recent contract
extension. A source close to Khan said
that if she was unable to restore trust
“the mayor will have to consider whe-
ther she is the right person to lead the
change needed at the Met”.
A spokesperson for Khan said: “The
mayor made clear to the commissioner
how angry he is with a return to the bad
days of the Met of his childhood in the
1970s and 80s, and that neither he nor
Londoners will put up with this.
“He has put the commissioner on
notice. He said the Met needs to
urgently show it has an effective plan
for restoring the trust and confidence of
Londoners in the police and to drive out
the culture of racism, homophobia, bul-
lying and misogyny which clearly still
exists within its ranks.”
Appearing before the Commons
home affairs committee Patel was
asked by its chairwoman, Diana John-
son, if she believed police forces were
“institutionally misogynistic”.
Patel said: “There are problems with
the culture, and some aspects of the
culture, within the Metropolitan police.
I do think there are some very, very se-
rious and significant matters that need,
not just following up, but further in-
vestigation. We’re not seeing one-off
incidences. I think we should just be
quite clear about that. We are not see-
ing one-off incidences, this is not isolat-
ed. We have seen now too, too many
times, too many instances where, in po-
licing, we just see the most appalling be-
haviours, the most appalling conduct.
“I also think it shows a failure of lead-
ership in some quarters.”
Patel has told all police forces in En-
gland and Wales to send an officer to
the scene of every burglary after a
dramatic fall in break-ins in areas that
have adopted that policy.
Greater Manchester, Bedfordshire
and Northamptonshire police have cut
burglaries by up to 50 per cent and
detection rates have trebled after they
began sending officers to the scene of
every reported case.
The home secretary told the com-
mittee: “We want every single force to
do that.”
Patel also revealed that she is consid-
ering making spiking a specific criminal
offence. She told MPs that she has in-
structed officials to look into how to
target the “appalling” increase in spik-
ing offences after a wave of students re-
ported being spiked with a needle dur-
ing nights out.
Patel said she had asked “how we can
pursue offenders, but also how we can
— and you’ll know that there are
already a list of offences in terms of
drugs that can be applied — but how we
can prepare a specific criminal offence
to target spiking directly”.
James McLoughlin-Goodchild was
investigated for sexual harassment