London police apologise for explicit messages about rape, beating women, racist slurs

British police apologised after an investigation found that officers had discussed beating women and made racist and homophobic slurs and that one officer had messaged a female colleague to say he would rape her.

Confidence in London’s police service has been shaken by a series of revelations in recent years, including that one of its officers stopped a woman, Sarah Everard, before abducting, raping and murdering her.

The probe began after an allegation that an officer had sex with a drunk person at a police station and it expanded to include other officers, predominantly based at Charing Cross near Trafalgar Square. The police members were part of a team set up to tackle crime and disorder in the Westminster borough.

The watchdog investigated 14 officers as part of the probe. Two were dismissed for gross misconduct and another resigned. Four other officers attended misconduct meetings and a fifth decided to quit rather than attend.

The messages were exchanged on WhatsApp and Facebook by the officers between 2016 and 2018, said a report by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).