I was burgled by my former colleagues at the Metropolitan Police as payback for making a sex discrimination complaint
- Caroline Mitchell says she was physically assaulted after woken by intruders
- The 55-year-old claims she recognised two of them as fellow Met officers
A senior Met police officer last night claimed two junior colleagues were among four men who burgled her home as ‘punishment’ for making a sex discrimination complaint.
In an ordeal she claims ruined her career, retired inspector Caroline Mitchell says she was physically assaulted after being woken by the intruders rifling through her spare bedroom.
All four disguised their appearance with bandanas, hoodies and baseball caps but she claims she recognised two of them as fellow Met officers.
Now, dismayed at the scandals engulfing the force, Ms Mitchell has decided to speak out for the first time about failures in her own case.
The 55-year-old has also accused the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) of allowing fears of reputational damage to get in the way of an investigation.
Caroline Mitchell says she was physically assaulted after being woken by the intruders rifling through her spare bedroom
All four disguised their appearance with bandanas, hoodies and baseball caps but she claims she recognised two of them as fellow Met officers (stock image)
She told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I desperately hoped I was wrong about police being involved. It sounds unthinkable – and it was to me at first – but some police can be bloody nasty. There was no interest, no drive from the DPS to get to the truth.’
She retired in 2019 but has pursued the case ever since. On the day of the burglary in January 2018, Ms Mitchell, who joined the Met in 1989 aged 21 and was initially based at Stoke Newington, North London, had gone to bed in the afternoon feeling unwell.
She was woken at 6.30pm by noises coming from her spare bedroom. She found one man standing guard on the landing. Two others were in the spare room opening drawers and cupboards.
One man moved towards her, saying: ‘Where is it?’ ‘I asked what he meant but he didn’t answer. He then said they were police on a drugs raid and had found cannabis,’ she said. Ms Mitchell says she has never ‘carried or used illegal drugs’.
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After being hustled downstairs – where another masked man was lurking – Ms Mitchell found herself on the floor having recognised the rattle made by a police baton. Afterwards, her thighs came up in four bruises.
After finding her car keys, the four intruders ran out of the back door and tried – but failed – to steal her Audi parked outside on the road.
During her career she worked on the Met’s Roads and Transport Policing Command, ending up in charge of more than 100 people – with only one female PC among them. After raising concerns about the lack of gender balance led nowhere, she submitted a sex discrimination complaint. She believes the burglary was ‘payback’ for making the complaint.
Ms Mitchell says: ‘I was utterly convinced about the identity of one of the men. The second one slightly less so. But sure enough to name both of them – something I didn’t do lightly. Both kept pulling up their scarves to hide their faces. I didn’t know the other two.’ A team from her nearest station in East London interviewed her at length.
The Met last night said in a statement: ‘In the case of this grievance brought in 2017, it was closed after mediation attempts, and no evidence of sexual discrimination was found.
‘A report of aggravated burglary in 2018 was investigated and a number of leads were followed, and unfortunately these did not lead to any arrests. There was no direct evidence of police officers being responsible for this offence.’
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