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Blundering cop who lied about rape cases jailed for 16 months (From The Argus)
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Blundering cop who lied about rape cases jailed for 16 months
5:41pm Monday 29th October 2012 in News By Anna Roberts, Crime reporter
A former policeman who botched rape and sexual assault cases – including an alleged attack on a 96-year-old woman – has been jailed for 16 months.
Ex-DC Ryan Coleman-Farrow, 30, of St Leonards, tried to cover up his failings. He falsely claimed that a rape victim had dropped charges and changed witness statements.
He pleaded guilty to 13 counts of misconduct in a public office at Southwark Crown Court last month.
Passing sentence today, Judge Alistair McCreath said: “In all 13 cases you failed to take steps that were appropriate and necessary for a full and proper investigation of each case, whether by failing to take statements or to gather exhibits or to pass material on to other agencies for further investigation or analysis.
“All of these people had made complaints of sexual abuse and many of them were particularly vulnerable.
"Thus the complainants did not have their cases taken to court.
"Perhaps some of them might never have got that far.
"But whether those cases did get to court or not, those who were thought to be victims of sexual abuse simply did not have their cases properly investigated.
"And you covered up your failure to do them justice by lying and creating false records."
The charges relate to rape and sexual assault investigations between January 2007 and September 2010 while Coleman-Farrow worked for the Metropolitan Police.
Coleman-Farrow admitted entering on the police computer that the Crown Prosecution Service had advised that charges should be dropped in rape cases, when no such instruction had been given.
He also failed to get witness statements and did not send exhibits for analysis.
Coleman-Farrow also made mistakes in the case of a 14-year-old boy who studied at a school for children with special needs.
After it was alleged the boy had been abused by a classmate, the officer failed to collect paperwork, did not take a statement from a girl who allegedly witnessed the incident and had no record of a statement from the class teacher.
Another case involved a 44-year-old woman who alleged she had been raped by a carer in the care home where she was living.
Comments(22)
mustaphaLeeko
says...
6:48pm Mon 29 Oct 12
CDL1
says...
6:49pm Mon 29 Oct 12
The headline suggests that he worked for Sussex police when in fact he was a Met officer who lived in Sussex. Why look to discredit Sussex? I really wonder sometimes what the agenda is?
Ouseler
says...
6:55pm Mon 29 Oct 12
Or was he a Metropolitan sussex London Cop..or a London...Never mind..good headline though.....
Anyway he got off lightly...-
still waiting
says...
7:53pm Mon 29 Oct 12
jw182910
says...
8:31pm Mon 29 Oct 12
How come such an inexperienced detective was assigned to a specialist unit where one would expect officers with more than a couple of years service to be assigned.
He wasn't a quota filler was he?
Leon
says...
9:46pm Mon 29 Oct 12
mimseycal
says...
10:40pm Mon 29 Oct 12
Why is he an Ex-DC? Did he resign or was he asked to leave?
funkyyoyo
says...
11:16pm Mon 29 Oct 12
PorkBoat
says...
11:29pm Mon 29 Oct 12
jw182910 wrote:No, no, he was promoted purely on merit...http://www.d
What I cannot understand is this. Coleman-Farrow is 30 years old and the cases date back almost six years.
How come such an inexperienced detective was assigned to a specialist unit where one would expect officers with more than a couple of years service to be assigned.
He wasn't a quota filler was he?
ailymail.co.uk/news/
article-2224892/Dete
ctive-jailed-bunglin
g-13-rape-investigat
ions-allowing-allege
d-attackers-streets.
html
Cash Bull
says...
11:53pm Mon 29 Oct 12
rich140
says...
1:06am Tue 30 Oct 12
It's a good job there arnt bad people in other professions, just in the police.
No credit given of course for the Met discovering this officers actions, completing an investigation and following it through to conviction. No it's much easier just to tar everyone with his brush.
Yes there are idiots and disgraces in the police. As in every job. The important thing is that they are found. Investigated and punished so that those who do the job well can continue to do so.
Cash Bull
says...
7:18am Tue 30 Oct 12
rich140 wrote:Still allowed to retire...... 12 years pension better than nothing eh?
Oh goody the police bashers are out in force again. Combine a complete disgrace of an officer with a deliberately provocative and misleading headline and suddenly all police are corrupt again.
It's a good job there arnt bad people in other professions, just in the police.
No credit given of course for the Met discovering this officers actions, completing an investigation and following it through to conviction. No it's much easier just to tar everyone with his brush.
Yes there are idiots and disgraces in the police. As in every job. The important thing is that they are found. Investigated and punished so that those who do the job well can continue to do so.
mimseycal
says...
7:33am Tue 30 Oct 12
funkyyoyo wrote:Tarring everyone with the same brush because one/some of them has breached your trust is over reacting to say the least.
once corrupt,always corrupt!!! id never trust one ever again!!!
still waiting
says...
8:01am Tue 30 Oct 12
Juleyanne
says...
8:12am Tue 30 Oct 12
mimseycal
says...
8:38am Tue 30 Oct 12
The victims would have suffered the long term consequences of being victims regardless of whether it was investigated at the time or not. The problem with investigating cold cases however means that the probability of getting any justice for these victims is significantly diminished.
AmboGuy
says...
9:15am Tue 30 Oct 12
CDL1 wrote:It's well known amongst the police that The Argus has an anti police bias in its reporting.
Why does the Argus always dumb down news and seek to misrepresent the facts?
The headline suggests that he worked for Sussex police when in fact he was a Met officer who lived in Sussex. Why look to discredit Sussex? I really wonder sometimes what the agenda is?
AmboGuy
says...
9:15am Tue 30 Oct 12
CDL1 wrote:It's well known amongst the police that The Argus has an anti police bias in its reporting.
Why does the Argus always dumb down news and seek to misrepresent the facts?
The headline suggests that he worked for Sussex police when in fact he was a Met officer who lived in Sussex. Why look to discredit Sussex? I really wonder sometimes what the agenda is?
D360
says...
10:53am Tue 30 Oct 12
I see that The Argus has now quietly removed the word "Sussex" from the headline.
As for the comments along the line that he got off lightly, well unfortunately this is Britain and everyone gets off lightly irrespective of the crime
Dr.Draconian
says...
6:00pm Tue 30 Oct 12
Police officers pay contributions like most people reading this board.
If I was sacked for gross misconduct my pension would be frozen not seized.
mimseycal
says...
6:32pm Tue 30 Oct 12
Dr.Draconian wrote:Not entirely though. See: http://www.parliamen
Why do people always harp on about withdrawing pensions when its not the case that police pensions are a freebie.
Police officers pay contributions like most people reading this board.
If I was sacked for gross misconduct my pension would be frozen not seized.
t.uk/Templates/Brief
ingPapers/Pages/BPPd
fDownload.aspx?bp-id
=SN00700
Having said that, I agree that concerns about his pension are rather low down in the list of concerns raised by his conduct.
PETE OF QUEENS PARK says...
6:24pm Mon 29 Oct 12