Police officer who had sex with rape victim in McDonald’s toilet jailed
A Metropolitan Police officer who had sex with a rape victim in a McDonald’s toilet and threatened to kill herself has been jailed for 22 months.
Charlotte Peters, 33, had been assigned to care for the victim as her point of contact with police following her ordeal.
Peters, who was called “predatory” by the Southwark Crown Court judge, first kissed the victim at a refuge.
She admitted misconduct in public office.
Prosecutors at Southwark Crown Court, London, said Peters was in a “position of trust” with the woman and other victims, and trained to spot the signs of vulnerability.
The women started their relationship when they kissed on 24 February.
Peters and the unnamed victim went on to have consensual sex four times in the following month.
That included one time in the “lavatories at McDonald’s” while the officer was on duty.
The victim described being in love with the officer during the trial, but eventually realised they weren’t going to have a relationship, as the officer already had a girlfriend.
The affair was exposed after the victim, who was living in a refuge, revealed to staff that the relationship had ended.
The officer demanded texts be deleted to remove evidence of their relationship.
She then threatened to kill herself if the texts weren’t deleted.
Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner Richard Martin said Peters “clearly abused her position by starting a relationship with the person she was there to support, when that person was at their most vulnerable”.
