A woman groomed by a predatory Met Police officer says despite receiving a substantial payout from police, she received “no truth or accountability” from them.
Lorraine (not her real name) said the “nine-year battle must have been terrible, far worse than anything he put me through” and she regretted reporting him.
The Met apologized and acknowledged that her experience with the professional standards department had contributed to her grief.
Her experiences were among those described by Baroness Casey in her scathing review of the Met in 2023, which said the force was “institutionally misogynistic”. The force said it was working to improve its culture.
Lorraine met former constable Phil Hunter when he paid a charity visit to her home in 2017. In August 2024, a disciplinary commission found him guilty of gross misconduct.
The commission heard that over a two-year period he sent her inappropriate messages and tried to isolate her from friends and family as part of a “deliberate” and “predatory” plan to have a sexual relationship with her.
When Hunter retired in 2019, he was under investigation in a case involving another vulnerable woman whom he met during a welfare visit and with whom he entered into a sexual relationship.
A year later he was found guilty of gross misdemeanor for his behavior towards her.
Although the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) knew that Hunter had already assaulted another victim in similar circumstances, Lorraine’s complaints were ignored.
“The first officers I spoke to said police predators only exist in the minds of Daily Mail readers,” she said. “This is how a lot of officers meet with partners and there is absolutely nothing to it.”
In 2023, Lorraine’s experience was highlighted among the case studies in Baroness Casey’s damning review, which said she was “traumatised” by both PC Hunter and her treatment by the DPS.
The report calls for urgent reforms to “institutionally misogynistic” forces, including within the wrongdoing system, and says Lorraine’s case should be reviewed.
A disciplinary panel finally met in August 2024, but only after the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) intervened and recommended that the Met hold one.
Hunter, who was described as a “sexual predator who used his position to take advantage of vulnerable women”, was found guilty of gross misconduct for the second time.