Officers face sack over rape probe

Kirk Reid was jailed for life after being found guilty of attacking and stalking women in south-west London
12 April 2012

Three senior Scotland Yard officers could be sacked over failures by police investigating the crimes of sex attacker Kirk Reid.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said the managers failed to make the case a priority as Reid stalked the streets of Wandsworth, south west London.

A report found the officers did not allocate sufficient resources to catch the attacker or get a grip on the sprawling case during a bungled six-year inquiry.

It focused on the failings of senior managers as other crimes in the borough - robberies, street crime and burglary - were given priority, and the rape inquiry was allowed to drift.

The officers, a superintendent and two inspectors, will now face a misconduct panel after independent officials undertook a step-by-step review of what went wrong.

It is the second time Scotland Yard has been hauled over the coals by the IPCC for failings in the response of its officers to sex attackers.

Earlier this year the force was criticised for failing to take the victims of taxi driver rapist John Worboys seriously and not working harder to link his distinctive crimes.

Deborah Glass, of the IPCC, said managers were responsible for a "sustained failure" to tackle a long-standing pattern of offences in one London borough.

She said: "The failure to take a serial sex offender off the streets of London years earlier is a shameful chapter in the history of the Metropolitan Police.

"When considered alongside the failings in the case of John Worboys, their overall effect on the confidence of the victims of sexual offences in the police response cannot be overstated."

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