Met Police cannot dismiss officers by removing their vetting clearance, High Court rules | UK News

The Metropolitan Police cannot dismiss officers by removing their vetting clearance, the High Court has ruled.

The court ruled against the force in what has been described as a “test case” that could have major implications for the sacking of police officers accused of misconduct.

Sergeant Lino Di Maria, who had his vetting removed because of rape allegations, brought a legal challenge, supported by the Metropolitan Police Federation, to the court claiming the process was unlawful.

The challenge has been described as a “test case” in whether officers can be removed from duty if they cannot hold the minimum level of vetting.

On Tuesday, the High Court ruled the vetting clearance decision regarding Mr Di Maria be “quashed and reconsidered”.

This means the UK’s largest police force cannot dismiss officers by removing their vetting after the High Court ruling.

‘Hopeless position’

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley warned the ruling left policing in a “hopeless position” and said he would seek leave to appeal it.

He added: “We have no mechanism to rid the Met of officers who are not fit to hold vetting.

“Those who cannot be trusted to work with women, or those who cannot be trusted to enter the homes of vulnerable people.

“It is absolutely absurd we cannot sack them.”

Sky News correspondent Matthew Thompson described it as a “potentially seismic” case.

In the ruling, Mrs Justice Lang explained the decision, saying she did not believe the Met Police’s powers extended to dismissing officers “by reason of withdrawal of vetting clearance”.

She said an “anomaly” existed in the system that should be resolved by new government regulations.

Existing procedures she added were not “fit for purpose”.

A spokesperson for the Home Office said the government was working “rapidly” to introduce “new, strengthened rules that will help forces dismiss officers who cannot maintain vetting clearance.”

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said in a statement: “This decision has significant implications for the work the Met is now doing to clean up the force, raise standards and rid the police of all those unfit to serve.”

London’s Independent Victims’ Commissioner Claire Waxman said she feared the ruling could “open the gates” to “those accused of horrific crimes” to remain in the police force.

She added the Metropolitan Police Federation had “failed in its duty to represent all its members”.

Operation Assure

The Met Police began reviewing the status of officers who were alleged to have committed sexually violent crimes under a system it called Operation Assure.

Assure was put in place after the Met suffered a series of scandals, including the murder of Sarah Everard by Wayne Couzens, to try and clean up the police.

Some were removed after the emergence of serious accusations, including one officer who is alleged to have tried to form a relationship with a 13-year-old girl in the United States, though authorities were unable to prove this.

Some officers had their vetting clearance removed and were dismissed from the force, without proving whether the allegations against them were true.

But the latest court ruling is a blow to the force’s clean-up efforts.

Allegations against Mr Di Maria

Mr Di Maria will remain on vetting special leave Sir Mark said, describing it as a “ridiculous waste of money” but the “least bad option”.

He joined the force in 2004, Mrs Justice Lang said, and was accused of rape in 2019, with a second allegation made in 2021.

In the same year, it was alleged he had also been inappropriate towards female colleagues.

Mr Di Maria had denied the allegations against him.

Due to insufficient evidence, he was found to have no case to answer regarding the rape allegations.

In a meeting in 2022, no action was taken against him, but some matters were recorded as “adverse information” the judge said.

His vetting was removed in September 2023 and his initial appeal against this was refused last year.