Police left in 'hopeless position' after High Court vetting ruling, Met commissioner warns
Policing has been left in a "hopeless position" after a High Court ruling said forces cannot dismiss officers by removing their vetting clearance, Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has warned.
The court ruled against the force in what has been described as a "test case" that will have major implications for the sacking of police officers accused of misconduct.
It was decided the force was wrong to remove the vetting of Sergeant Lino Di Maria, who had faced rape allegations.
Supported by the Metropolitan Police Federation, he brought a legal challenge claiming the process was unlawful.
On Tuesday, the High Court ruled the vetting clearance decision regarding Mr Di Maria be "quashed and reconsidered".
This means the UK's police forces cannot dismiss officers by removing their vetting after the High Court ruling.
This had been a key part of the Met's efforts to clean up the force after scandals like the murder of Sarah Everard.
Concerns have been raised that the ruling "opens the gates" to police officers "accused of horrific crimes", like rape and violence against women, remaining as officers.
'Hopeless position'
Sir Mark warned the ruling left policing in a "hopeless position" and said he would seek leave to appeal it.
He added: "We have no mechanism to rid the Met of officers who are not fit to hold vetting.
"It is absolutely absurd we cannot sack them."
Sky News correspondent Matthew Thompson described it as a "potentially seismic" case.
In the ruling, Mrs Justice Lang explained the decision, saying she did not believe the Met Police's powers extended to dismissing officers "by reason of withdrawal of vetting clearance".
She said an "anomaly" existed in the system that should be resolved by new government regulations.
Existing procedures she added were not "fit for purpose".
In his statement, Sir Mark repeated his calls for the government to introduce the new regulations with "extreme urgency", saying the judge had "identified a clear gap in the law".
A spokesperson for the Home Office said the government was working "rapidly" to introduce "new, strengthened rules that will help forces dismiss officers who cannot maintain vetting clearance."
London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan said he was "really disappointed" by the ruling.
Operation Assure
The Met Police began reviewing the status of officers who were alleged to have committed sexually violent crimes under a system it called Operation Assure.
Assure was put in place after the Met suffered a series of scandals, including the murder of Sarah Everard by Wayne Couzens, to try and clean up the police.
Some were removed after the emergence of serious accusations, including one officer who is alleged to have tried to form a relationship with a 13-year-old girl in the US, though authorities were unable to prove this.
In some cases, officers had their vetting clearance removed and were dismissed from the force, without proving whether the allegations against them were true.
But the latest court ruling is a blow to the force's clean-up efforts.
Sir Mark said there were currently 29 officers who have had their vetting removed who remain on paid leave, and 96 who have been sacked or resigned under the clean-up efforts.
Around 100 were in the early stages of vetting reviews, he added.
Allegations against Mr Di Maria
Mr Di Maria will remain on vetting special leave Sir Mark said, describing it as a "ridiculous waste of money" but the "least bad option".
He joined the force in 2004, Mrs Justice Lang said, and was accused of rape in 2019, with a second allegation made in 2021.
In the same year, it was alleged he had also been inappropriate towards female colleagues.
Mr Di Maria had denied the allegations against him.
Due to insufficient evidence, he was found to have no case to answer regarding the rape allegations.
In a meeting in 2022, no action was taken against him, but some matters were recorded as "adverse information" the judge said.
His vetting was removed in September 2023 and his initial appeal against this was refused last year.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Woman, 33, who vanished from London's Hyde Park FOUR months ago 'is found safe and well'
A woman who went missing from London 's Hyde Park has finally been found - four months after she disappeared. Portia Vincent-Kirby, from Finchley, North London, 'dropped off the face of the earth' after spending the evening with friends on February 21. The 33-year-old - who once ran to be an MP - was spotted a month later by a family friend at the Blind Beggar pub in Whitechapel, but vanished again soon after. She is reported to have abandoned her flat and not accessed her bank card since early March while family said she had not used her passport to get out of the country. But Ms Vincent-Kirby has now been recovered 'safe and well', Metro, who have repeatedly appealed for information about her whereabouts, reports. Her mother, Janina Vincent, previously told the newspaper that the family had been 'bleeding quietly and inwardly' since her disappearance. She explained that since Ms Vincent-Kirby disappeared she had been 'dangerously close to imploding' as the horrifying ordeal took its toll on those who loved her. Ms Vincent said: 'I was thinking, ''How can this all be? How can my child just vanish?' At one point I was dangerously on edge, and had to get away so I didn't become a mess.' The Met Police were last known to be working on the theory that she may have been in Kent, where she grew up. She had also been known to live in Italy, Belgium, Greece and France. She was last seen on March 14 when she was spotted by a family friend. They did not know she was missing at the time, and they chatted for an hour in which time he bought her two drinks. The Met Police later shared footage of her at the pub - in which her mother said she looked 'very unwell and distressed'. Ms Vincent-Kirby's worried brother Max, who lives in Wigmore, Kent, previously said: 'She's got a masters' degree, she's an intelligent girl, she's not the kind of person who just vanishes. 'It's like she's dropped off the face of the earth.' Portia, who has had a number of careers, most recently worked as an administrator for an eco waste company. Before that, she worked at a law firm as a legal PA and in public relations, with her brother saying she had left her most recent role in February. She ran as the Green Party candidate for Hendon, North London, in 2019.
Evening Standard
5 hours ago
- Evening Standard
Comment: This review treats London as a one-way cash cow — again
But as the Mayor laid bare in his reaction statement, 'this spending review could result in insufficient funding for the Met and fewer police officers.' He added: 'It's also disappointing that there is no commitment today from the Treasury to invest in the new infrastructure London needs. Projects such as extending the Docklands Light Railway not only deliver economic growth across the country, but also tens of thousands of new affordable homes and jobs for Londoners. Unless the Government invests in infrastructure like this in our capital, we will not be able to build the numbers of new affordable homes Londoners need.'
Glasgow Times
6 hours ago
- Glasgow Times
Glasgow man caught with £1m of cocaine in secret hideaway
Michael O'Lone was stopped on the M74 near junction 10 at Lesmahagow, in Lanarkshire, in April 2024. The 34-year-old had previously been freed from a jail-term for growing cannabis when he was snared again. O'Lone has now been locked up once more after he pleaded guilty at the High Court in Glasgow to a charge of being concerned in the supply of cocaine. Prosecutor Eilidh Robertson told how O'Lone was the only person in the van when it was halted. She then explained: "The vehicle was searched. A total of 10 blocks of powder in bags were recovered from a compartment under the driver's seat which could be operated with hydraulics." A sensor button to open the hideaway was seized. O'Lone's DNA was also found in that area of the van. Police further discovered an iPhone - messages linked O'Lone to the drug trafficking including him discussing the collection of "paper" - slang for money - with an associate. There was also a photo of white powder being weighed on scales. Miss Roberston said the cocaine had a purity as high as 82% with a potential street value of £1,004,000. Thomas Ross KC, defending, stated O'Lone, of the city's Castlemilk, was released from his last sentence in July 2022. He had been jailed for 14 months for being involved in the production of cannabis. Mr Ross: "As far as this (latest) offence is concerned, there is very little to offer other than the value of the cocaine is high, but he would not have benefitted directly from the sale of drugs." O'Lone had got involved to help repay a debt owed by him. The KC stated he was a man "capable of very much better". Lord Cubie cut the jail-term from eight years due to the plea. The judge said O'Lone "knew fine well" what he was getting involved in, stating drugs "corrode, damage and destroy" lives. Referring to O'Lone previous prison stint, Lord Cube told him: "You had your second chance and chose to deal with it with this most serious offending."
