Serving Metropolitan Police officer charged with sexual assault
PC Chris Lee, who is attached to the Central West Command Unit, is said to have carried out the alleged offence in November 2021
A serving Metropolitan Police officer has been charged with sexual assault.
PC Chris Lee, who is attached to the Central West Command Unit, is said to have carried out the alleged offence in November 2021 while off duty.
Scotland Yard also said Lee is due to appear at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
The Metropolitan Police’s Directorate of Professional Standards has been informed and Lee has been suspended.
Lee was charged by postal requisition on Monday.
It comes just over a week since a Metropolitan Police officer was given a final written warning over a strip search of a Black woman.
A two-year investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) found that Police Sergeant Dru Hussey, who authorised the invasive tactic in May 2020, did not comply with legal requirements and force policy.
The police watchdog’s investigation found PS Hussey failed to inform the woman she was to be strip-searched, why or how it would be conducted. Male officers, including PS Hussey, were present during the initial part of the strip search and intermittently throughout.
PC Samantha Ryan, one of the other officers involved in the search, was not penalised for her actions. Allegations that she used excessive force during the arrest of the woman and was disrespectful towards her were also not upheld.
While the IOPC ruled that the strip search was questionable, it concluded that the force used by PC Ryan on the woman was “reasonable”.
IOPC regional director Sal Naseem said: “Anyone who is in police custody is entitled to be treated with respect and courtesy. Our investigation found the way the strip search was conducted appeared to have failed to comply with the law, police policy and could be perceived as degrading.
“Officers never explained to the woman what was happening and her questions were ignored. This incident was highly distressing for her and undermines wider public confidence in the Metropolitan Police Service.
“As the officer in charge of the strip search, the independent panel has rightly found that PS Hussey failed in his responsibilities to safeguard her welfare, protect her legal rights and ensure she was treated with dignity and respect.”
The charge also comes after the Met apologised and paid £22,500 to Tariq Stanley, a 30-year-old insurance underwriter, who was wrongly handcuffed, injured, strip-searched and detained in April 2020 by officers looking for cannabis.
Another Metropolitan Police officer was charged with GBH and causing serious injury by dangerous driving earlier this month.
Detective Sergeant Michael Harding was accused of ramming a man with his car in attempted drug raid in 2018.
It is said he drove into Dean Francis as he got out of a taxi, allegedly sending him flying through the air and falling 15ft into a basement.
A court heard this month that Harding was at the wheel of a BMW which “collided with Mr Francis, sending him airborne and over the railings into the basement of the adjacent building”.
The court was told that Mr Francis fell 15ft into the basement, and is said to have suffered injuries including four fractured vertebrae and a punctured lung.