Met Police in High Court over right to sack rogue officers in vetting row after Sarah Everard murder
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The Met is fighting a High Court battle over its ability to sideline officers as a sergeant accused of multiple unproven sex attacks challenges their bid to dismiss him. The Metropolitan Police has warned a legal challenge launched by an officer facing the sack over unproven allegations of rape and domestic abuse will render them powerless to dismiss rogue officers if the claim succeeds.
![[Metropolitan Police are in a High Court fight over their vetting rules]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/12/18/a162e801bebf1d619c609956246638bbY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM2NzkxMjYz-2.20526049.jpg)
The force revoked Sergeant Lino Di Maria’s vetting clearance after receiving multiple public complaints about his conduct towards women, including what court documents describe as “two sexual assaults/rapes in cars in public car parks”. He denies the allegations has not been charged with, nor convicted if, any offence.
![[Sarah Everard was kidnapped, raped and murdered by then-serving Met officer Wayne Couzens in 2021]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/11/15/17/418a83f928e16e03e25ef88213ab54ffY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzMxNzcwNTAy-2.69112061.jpg)
He has lodged a judicial review in the High Court challenging the validity of a vetting overhaul launched after a series of scandals, including the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard by serving Met officer Wayne Couzens. John Beggs KC, leading the Met’s legal team, said the case raised the “fundamental issue” of whether a chief officer is entitled to sack officers who cannot clear the basic vetting procedures.
“Vetting is crucial to the integrity of the police service, to the confidence that a chief officer of police can have in their officers, and to public confidence in the police”, he said in written arguments submitted to the court. Sgt Di Maria was accused of assaulting a woman, who he met at the gym, in a Tesco carpark and as she was leaving the gym on two dates in 2018. The court heard he insisted the encounters were consensual and a criminal investigation resulted in no further action after the woman withdrew her support for the investigation.
