Met Police sued after reinstating 999 call handler who 'mocked Sarah Everard' and called rape victim a ‘slut’
16 March 2025, 10:08
The Metropolitan Police are being sued after the force reinstated an emergency call handler who was found to have mocked Sarah Everard's death and called a rape victim a "slut".
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The call handler was sacked by the Met for gross misconduct in November 2023 after a disciplinary panel heard allegations of racist remarks about victims of crime, as well as claims he had followed a female colleague home.
The individual is also alleged to have made comments about Sarah Everard, who was murdered by serving police officer Wayne Cozens.
Now, the whistleblower who flagged her colleague's behaviour is suing the Met for unfair dismissal after insisting she could not work alongside her reinstated co-worker.
Issy Vine, 30, from Wimbledon, south west London, lodged a formal complaint against her co-worker in April 2023 after overhearing a series of offensive comments during her shift.
Despite being sacked following the shocking remarks, the handler was then reinstated just four months later, after he successfully argued that his dismissal was too harsh a punishment.
It led his boss to agree that the panel who dismissed him had been “too emotional”.
Now, the whistleblower who spoke out against her male colleague claims she has "lost out on a life-long career" after the individual was given his job back, with Ms Vine claiming she could not knowingly work alongside him.
Emails sent from the whistleblower to her boss claim she was sitting beside the individual as he took a report from an alleged rape victim who claims she fell pregnant and contracted a sexually transmitted infection following the attack.
Ms Vine then alleged that the colleague “used his hand to cover his mouth and commented, ‘she sounds like a slut’”.
Ms Vine then claimed that while on the same shift, the individual commented “can I be unkind? I have just had a call from an immigrant,” during a call.
She claims to have then been shown his mobile phone screen, where he had written: “Why don’t you f--- off back to your own country?”
A third incident in the same shift saw the man allegedly describe Clapham Common as “Sarah Everard turf” - a reference to the area Sarah Everard was abducted and murdered by serving Met officer Wayne Couzens.
She told Met bosses: “I have lots of anxiety now because of this and the outcome of reporting this, but I do have a duty and it is the right thing to do.”
Following her complaint, the handler was placed on restricted duties before being sacked following the panel's gross misconduct findings in November 2023.
She told the Telegraph that following his reinstatement, she sat down with her boss to flag her concerns.
She claimed that during the meeting, the director told her the panel who dismissed the 999 handler had been “too emotionally and heavily influenced by violence against women and girls, Baroness Casey and the Everard case, so would have felt pressured to be harsher than needed”.
Ms Vine went on to resign, stating she could not knowingly and comfortably work alongside the individual.
She is now suing the Met for damages following what she labels her constructive dismissal, including sexual harassment, whistleblowing detriment and failure to make reasonable adjustments.
She said: “I always wanted to join the police to help people, because that is what the police do. I want people to feel safe and secure knowing they can depend on an authority with decent people behind it.
“But now I worry whether that is actually the case or whether the very people who are being employed to protect us are part of the problem.
“And even when you try to bring that to light, you are dragged through a flawed and horrendous misconduct process.”
