Mayor backs probe into 'regretful sex' rape claim

THE view that rape allegations are mostly the result of “regretful sex” was denounced as “completely unacceptable” today as London Mayor Sadiq Khan backed a probe into whether the MetPolice’s former acting commissioner used the term.

- Martin Bentham

Sir Stephen House, the former deputy commissioner who led Scotland Yard in the wake of Cressida Dick’s resignation last year, is alleged by a Home Office adviser to have dismissed the bulk of rape complaints as “regretful sex” during a meeting intended to improve the police response to predatory offenders and the treatment of victims.

He denies the claim but has been referred by the Met to the Independent Office for Police Conduct so it can investigate and recommend potential sanctions if misconduct is established.

The claim has raised fresh concerns about attitudes within the Met in the wake of the convictions of serial rapist David Carrick and Sarah Everard’s rapist and murderer Wayne Couzens and a further cases of misogyny and crimes committed by officers against women.