Mental ill-health is losing its stigma, yet it's still used to blame victims of abuse

In the latest case of its type, the Met police failed a woman targeted by a predatory officer.

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A shocking story about the Metropolitan police last week: a woman who has groomed by a predatory officer has at last received an apology after the force spread false information about her mental health rather than investigate him.

Lorraine – not her real name – had first complained about PC Phil Hunter after he made a welfare visit to her home. Over a period of two years, he sent her inappropriate messages and tried to isolate her from friends and family as part of a “predatory” plan to have a sexual relationship with her.

There followed seven years of failings, in which further complaints were ignored, the Met told external agencies she was making up her claims, and a senior officer attempted to contact her GP, informing social services that she thought she had mental health problems. A letter from the directorate of professional standards now concedes decisions may have been influenced by these beliefs, which had “no basis in fact”.

“Surely predators are more drawn to vulnerable people with mental health issues,” Lorraine told the BBC. “Surely they would investigate that more, not less, had it been true?”

Criticism has rightly focused on the Met and the way it deals with victims of rogue officers. But there is also a wider pattern here. Although mental health stigma is broadly declining, there are pockets in which it still runs rampant. This is perhaps no better illustrated by the way diagnoses are weaponised against victims of abuse.