Met pays damages to woman for failing to properly examine her rape complaint

Scotland Yard has paid a five-figure sum to a woman after officers "brought the service into disrepute" for failing to properly investigate a report of rape by her ex-husband, the Guardian has learned.

- Alexandra Topping

The Metropolitan police's directorate of professional standards - known as the "Line of Duty unit" - criticised officers involved in the woman's case, saying they had damaged the reputation of the force "at a time when we are working hard to build bridges with the public and rebuild the trust we have lost".

The country's largest police force paid substantial damages to the woman in January after she started legal proceedings, almost four years after she went to the police to report a rape and controlling and coercive behaviour by her ex-husband.

In June 2021 the woman told officers that during unwanted sex with her ex-husband - during which she was unresponsive - she stated "this feels like rape", but he continued.

Speaking publicly about the experience for the first time, Emma* said she told Met officers that her husband had told a friend she had accused him of rape, and she had recordings of him telling their children "daddy is a rapist".