An 84-year-old man has been charged with 47 historic child sexual offences. The alleged offences took place between the late 1960s and 2010 in locations including London, Kent, Portugal, Turkey and Hungary, according to the Metropolitan Police. They relate to nine separate men, who were aged between eight and 14 at the time.
Confidence in the Met Police has fallen to an all-time low as Londoners lose faith in the force's management of protests, ability to solve thefts and local policing, according to a new report. A damning report published by the Policy Exchange think tank recommended that responsibility of the service should be stripped from mayor Sadiq Khan and transferred to the Home Office instead.
In considering harm, while there was no psychological harm to Inspector Thompson, the consequences on his career could have been significant if the officer's false allegations had been found proven. The panel were informed that since these allegations, Insp Thompson was put on restrictive duties and concluded this was actual harm. The panel also considered this is a type of reputational harm, both to Insp Thompson and to the Met.
If such powers were misused in the manner implied, they would represent a fundamental breach of natural justice and a betrayal of the trust that officers place in the organisation they serve. Morale within the Metropolitan Police Service is already fragile if not non-existent. Officers at all levels have endured sustained external criticism, internal upheaval, and immense operational pressure. Your letter risks destroying what remains of confidence and goodwill among those you rely upon to deliver your vision.
A woman, said by police to have bought cryptocurrency now worth billions of pounds using funds stolen from thousands of Chinese pensioners, is due to be sentenced this week for money laundering. After fleeing China, she moved to a mansion in Hampstead, north London. The Metropolitan Police raided it a year later and made one of the world's single largest crypto seizures. More than 100,000 Chinese people invested their money in her company - which claimed to be developing high-tech health products and mining cryptocurrency.
Britain's largest police force has been described as institutionally misogynistic after widespread claims that a toxic sexist culture has been allowed to thrive for decades. Imran Patel resigned from his job as a police constable last year after several reports about his conduct at work over a nine-month period. He was also subject to a fraud investigation, but has been told he will not face criminal prosecution.
When I first read Shereen Daniels' report 30 Patterns of Harm, a damning review of anti-Black racism within the Metropolitan police, I didn't feel outrage I felt recognition. The report lays bare what Black Londoners have long known: racism in policing isn't a case of occasional failures. It is structural and, left unexamined, it reproduces. I also felt something else: the faint possibility of change. For perhaps the first time, the Met has chosen to see itself clearly.
A cyclist is fighting for his life after a collision in Coulsdon, south London on Monday. The cyclist was struck by a car at around 4.20pm on Ditches Lane in Coulsdon, around six miles from Croydon. Metropolitan Police officers were called to the scene, and the cyclist was taken to the hospital, where he remains in a life-threatening condition. The driver of the car involved in the incident, a red Hyundai i20, stopped at the scene and is cooperating with police as the investigation unfolds.
Just one in seven of all 999 calls to the Metropolitan Police this year have been for genuine emergencies, the force has said. Scotland Yard released audio of a woman who called for help because a big spider was trapped in her hallway. When the operator asks if it was a joke, she replies: No, it is not. Oh my God. I am terrified of spiders.
In the last year, just 15% of all 999 calls to the Metropolitan Police have been for genuine emergencies, the force has said. Non-emergency calls included someone who had a spider in their room, another whose dog would not come back into their house, and others who have had no-show delivery drivers. The force said the calls, which totalled 1.87m between July 2024 and July 2025, took up valuable call handler time and stopped them from dealing with genuine emergencies.