Met Police victim says reporting predatory officer was worse than abuse

A woman who received a payout from the Metropolitan Police said reporting a predatory officer left her more distressed than the abuse itself, after the force admitted a seven-year series of failings in the way it handled her complaints. Lorraine said the ordeal of trying to be believed, rather than the original contact with former PC Phil Hunter, had become the defining harm.

Lorraine first came into contact with the Met in 2017, when Hunter made a welfare visit to her home while she was a vulnerable victim of crime. She says he groomed her instead of protecting her, and that the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards repeatedly failed to act on her complaints. Her initial reports were not properly recorded or treated with the seriousness they deserved, and she had to make numerous attempts over 18 months before an investigation was opened.

A letter said the force wrongly believed Lorraine had mental health issues, a belief with no factual basis that was used in decisions about her case. Acting Det Ch Supt Neil Smithson, head of the Directorate of Professional Standards, apologised for “a series of failings” and called victim-blaming by Met officers unacceptable. Lorraine said the nine-year battle to be believed had been “far worse than anything he put me through” and said she regretted reporting Hunter because she still had no truth or accountability from the force.

Hunter was later found guilty of gross misconduct in August 2024 over his conduct toward another vulnerable woman he met during a welfare visit. The hearing found that he had sent inappropriate messages over two years, tried to cut her off from people she loved and pursued what was described as a deliberate and predatory plan for a sexual relationship. He resigned in 2019 while under investigation in that separate case, and the Met later said Lorraine did not receive her own disciplinary hearing until 2024.

Lorraine’s lawyers at Bhatt Murphy want the Independent Office for Police Conduct to examine the role of Catherine Roper, who led the Met’s DPS at the time and is now chief constable of Wiltshire. Misconduct hearings are held to present the facts when an employee may have breached the standards of professional behaviour.