Met officer’s ‘disastrous’ claim may prevent 300 rogue police being sacked, force warns
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Scotland Yard faces a “disastrous” future where it will be powerless to sack around 300 so-called bad apples if it loses a judicial review being brought by an officer accused of rape, the force has warned. Sergeant Lino Di Maria is challenging Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley’s “unlawful” decision to strip him of his warrant card for failing vetting in the wake of a slew of scandals, including Sarah Everard’s murder by PC Wayne Couzens.
But Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor believes the Met has acted in an “entirely lawful” way, using powers that already existed in legislation and are backed by the College of Policing. As well as Sgt Di Maria, among 107 others dismissed under Operation Assure so far include an officer arrested in the United States for trying groom a 13-year-old girl and PC Terry Malka who kept his job despite being convicted of performing a solo sex act in a First Class train carriage in 2018.
AC Taylor told reporters a legal victory for Sgt Di Maria might see “our hands tied” in a “hopeless position” and staff “with really worrying” pasts reinstated, then awarded thousands in back pay. He said: “Our view is that is entirely unacceptable.
“The public would be horrified, I think, that those individuals are continuing to police London and deal with vulnerable victims and others. “A lot of the victims here are our own people. They don’t want to work alongside them. “That would be disastrous, in my view, for the Met.
