Met Police to pay compensation after ‘failing to investigate’ homophobia report
(Getty)
The Metropolitan Police will pay compensation to a man after failing to investigate a report of homophobic abuse.
54-year-old David Cary has launched a lawsuit against the force, alleging that it failed to properly investigate his 2007 report that he was subjected to homophobic abuse by a neighbour.
Mr Cary had alleged that a neighbour called him a “poof” and a “queer”, but officers decided to take no action on the issue.
The case was set to go before the Court of Appeal, but this week the police force agreed to pay a settlement to Mr Cary.
Mr Cary told the BBC that the Met had “shamelessly dug their heels in for nine years” over the issue, and that the delays in reaching the settlement amounted to a “travesty of justice and professionalism”.
He said: “I felt belittled and treated like a second-class citizen. I felt they prolonged the case in the hope of wearing me down.
“Without the best legal representation and campaigning support that I had, they might have managed it.”
The Independent Police Complaints Commission had settled the case in 2012, but the Met held out for four years longer.
As part of the settlement, Scotland Yard agreed to issue an apology, admitting it could have handled the complaint “more professionally and sympathetically”.
Mr Cary’s solicitor Jane Deighton said the force must end the “knee-jerk reaction into defensive mode when civilians bring police misconduct to the attention of the service”.
Lib Dem Shadow Home Secretary Lord Paddick, a former Deputy Assistant Commissioner in London’s Metropolitan Police Service, told PinkNews: “The Police are not learning lessons and this tragic case is yet another example. Coming straight off the back of the Orgreave inquiry rejection, surely this shows how we cannot just say these things happened too long ago.
“The Met has said that they have learnt lessons but how can they say that when it has taken them nine years to admit what happened and to finally take responsibility.
“The Met have a duty of care and frankly they failed.”
