COP OUT
Six scandals that engulfed Cressida Dick’s career, as Met Commissioner resigns after failing to tackle violence & sexism
THESE are the SIX scandals that engulfed Dame Cressida Dick's career as Met Police chief - as she resigned for failing to tackle violence and sexism in London.
The former Met Police Commissioner was embroiled in a number of controversies and criticisms - which finally brought her to quit the job this evening.
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Ms Dick has faced an avalanche of criticism over her handling of events in the last five years as commissioner.
She has failed time and time again to discipline and root out issues in the Met Police - which came to light during the Sarah Everard case and the horrific WhatsApp messages sent by officers in her force.
Vile officers under her watch also took photos of murdered sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman - as calls for her resignation mounted.
As commissioner, she has been in charge as London witnessed its worst year EVER for teen murders, as well as global shame brought to the policing force during Euros 2020.
Here is a look through some of Ms Dick's greatest failures and scandals as public opinion of the Met under her reign nose-dived.
Sarah Everard's death and vigil
In March 2021, Met PC Wayne Couzens kidnapped, raped, and murdered 33-year-old Sarah as he pretended to arrest her for Covid breaches.
The 33-year-old had been making her way home in Clapham, South London, when she was snatched by the monstrous cop.
He trapped her in handcuffs and put Sarah in his car - before driving her 80 miles from London where he raped and murdered her.
Couzens then burnt her body in a plot of land he bought in 2019 that he described as "perfect for a day out".
After he was charged with Sarah's murder, it emerged Couzens slipped through the net despite colleagues knowing he had indulged his dark fantasies.
The first incident against him was reported in 2002 - before he joined the police.
Couzens also allegedly exposed himself in a McDonald's in South London on February 28 - just three days before Sarah's murder.
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A similar indecent exposure claim against him was also made in Kent in 2015 - and he was known as 'the rapist' by colleagues.
He was also not given enhanced vetting when he joined the Met’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Unit in February 2020.
But a catalogue of errors made under Ms Dick's watch allowed vile Couzens to roam free and murder Sarah.
The failures of the Met went further than the tragic case of Sarah Everard itself - as when thousands of mourners gathered in her memory on Clapham Common, violence ensued.
Heavy-handed officers dragged tearful women away from a candle-lit shrine during ugly clashes in South London.
At the time, Ms Dick faced calls to resign - but it was not until Couzens' trial in September 2021 that the full negligence of the Met came to light.
Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman
The tragic murders of sisters Bibaa and Nicole shocked the nation - as Danyal Hussein stabbed the pair while they were celebrating a birthday in a park.
He was jailed for life in October for the savage attack and killing of the sisters.
But that was not the end of the torment for their distraught family.
A week later, it was revealed that two Met officers superimposed one of their faces onto the murdered sisters before sharing the graphic pics to pals on WhatsApp.
Pc Deniz Jaffer and Pc Jamie Lewis were assigned to protect the scene after sisters Bibaa Henry, 46, and Nicole Smallman, 27, were found dead in bushes in Fryent Country Park in Wembley, North West London.
Instead, they breached the cordon to take "inappropriate" and "unauthorised" photographs of the dead bodies, which they then shared on WhatsApp.
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Lewis took two photos while Jaffer took four - before sending them on to a female colleague also at the scene.
In the sickening act, Pc Lewis's face had been superimposed onto one of the victims' bodies before the pair sent the picture to pals.
Pc Lewis also shared photos he had taken at the crime scene with a WhatsApp group of 40-plus police officers called the ‘A Team’.
At the time, Cressida Dick expressed "deep regret" over the "utterly unprofessional, disrespectful and deeply insensitive" behaviour of the officers involved and issued a fresh apology to mum Mina Smallman and her family.
But she still refused to quit, despite the unspeakable actions made by officers within her force.
Jaffer and Lewis were jailed for two years and nine months after they admitted committing misconduct in a public office between June 7 and June 23 last year.
Bloodiest teen murder epidemic EVER
In 2021, London recorded its worst-ever annual death toll from teenage homicides, with a total of 30 boys and young men killed.
The youngest to die was 14-year-old Jermaine Cools, who had been walking with a relative when he suffered stab wounds on November 18.
Of the teenagers killed last year, the majority - 27 - were stabbed. Two were shot and one died in a suspicious house fire.
Figures show violence fell by more than a quarter during lockdown in London. However, the number of murders has increased.
Earlier in 2021 the Met launched a “surge” of officers onto the streets in a bit to stop the rising tide of violence.
Anas Mezenner was the first teen to be killed last year, after being attacked near Turnpike Lane station on January 19.
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He had made an anti-knife crime video for a media studies course weeks before he died.
Less than a week later, Romario Opia, 15, was found stabbed in Islington, North London.
The deadliest month was March, when five youths died, followed by June and July, with four tragedies each.
In 2020 there were 17 young people murdered, 25 in 2019, 24 during 2018 in London and 27 in 2017.
Cops' vile WhatsApp chats
At the beginning of this month, a bombshell report found that police in London joked about raping women in sick WhatsApp chats.
The messages included one officer being dubbed "mcrapey raperson" and multiple other references to sexual violence including: "I would happily rape you."
In another disturbing exchange, a cop sickeningly boasts about domestic violence saying "knock a bird about and she will love you" adding they are "biologically programmed to like that s***".
The language was largely dismissed as "banter" to hide the bullying and harassment, meaning other officers felt unable to raise concerns.
A report by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) revealed highly offensive language used on WhatsApp and Facebook by cops in a now-disbanded team based in Westminster, primarily at Charing Cross police station.
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In them, officers joked about raping women, boasted about domestic violence and made light of the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.
Sadiq Khan last week said he was "utterly disgusted" by the behaviour and insisted "anyone found to be responsible for sexism, racism, misogyny, Islamophobia, antisemitism, bullying or harassment does not deserve to wear the Met uniform and must be rooted out".
Some 14 officers were investigated as a result of the vile WhatsApp messages, with two found to have a case to answer for gross misconduct.
One was sacked and another resigned before he would have been dismissed.
Nine remain serving officers, while another is working as a contractor in a staff role.
Ms Dick had initially said she would refuse to quit on Friday afternoon - despite the horrific WhatsApp messages sent by officers in her force.
No control at Euros 2020
Global embarrassment hit the Met Police and Ms Dick following the chaos outside at the Euro 2020 final at Wembley last summer when ticketless fans stormed the stadium.
England lost to Italy on penalties in a game that was overshadowed by the poor fan behaviour.
Groups of fans broke through security cordons and got into the stadium without a ticket amid the clear policing failures.
Disturbing scenes of violence outside Wembley Stadium were projected around the globe - as The Sun revealed just one Met officer was at a safety meeting before the security shambles at the final.
The Met was also accused of failing to deploy enough officers to stop yobs without tickets from breaching security barriers and gaining entry.
Despite the worldwide attention, Ms Dick promised to stick to her role.
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Extinction Rebellion 'light policing'
For months on end in 2021, eco-warriors Insulate Britain, part of XR, blocked motorways up and down the country - stopping commuters in their tracks.
Ambulances and people attending hospital appointments were trapped in hours of queues - as many slammed the Met Police for not intervening quickly enough.
Insulate Britain protesters blocked a woman who begged them to let her pass to follow her sick mum to the hospital.
Harrowing footage showed a woman desperately begging gormless eco-activists to "move your cars" as they blocked her from following her 81-year-old mum in an ambulance.
And in 2019, Extinction Rebellion activists shut down large parts of London - costing the Met nearly £37million.
The force, which seemed to be powerless as the eco mob set up blockages in Oxford Circus, Marble Arch, and Parliament Square.
'Partygate' probe, Jean Charles de Menezes, and Operation Midland
Ms Dick has also recently faced criticism after she seemingly failed to try and prosecute alleged Covid-breaking parties in Downing Street.
But it was only when Sue Gray's report was on the verge of being published that the commissioner decided to probe the alleged parties.
This meant that the civil servant's report was severely cut down and altered as the police investigation remains ongoing.
Many No10 insiders were quick to criticise Dick for "completely f***ing it all up" by forcing Gray's report to be heavily censored right at the last minute - despite saying they wouldn't investigate for months.
And her tenure at the Met before she was commissioner also saw a number of high-profile failings.
Her first scandal which put her under the spotlight was in the aftermath of 7/7 bombings in 2005.
A failed copycat attempt on 21 July 2005 caused police officers to shoot dead an innocent man, Jean Charles de Menezes, the following day at Stockwell tube station in South London.
Ms Dick was Gold Commander in charge of that operation in the control room.
An inquiry in the aftermath found the Met guilty of a string of errors around de Menezes's death although Dick herself was exonerated.
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When she was assistant police commissioner, Ms Dick was involved in looking into the original claims of Carl Beech - who said he was a victim of a high-profile paedo ring.
An inquiry afterwards found more than 40 failings in the police operation - with a subsequent report revealing that the Met had delayed implementing most of these reforms.
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