Rapists and violent thugs had been employed by the Met as full checks had been axed in a rush to recruit officers, drive admits

Scotland Yard failed to properly vet thousands of officers – allowing rapists, racist and violent offenders to join the force.

Two serial rapists are among more than 130 officers and staff let in due to vetting failures who have gone on to commit crimes or misconduct, the Metropolitan Police admitted on Wednesday.

In a scandal which will raise questions about criminals in uniform across the UK, the Met was one of at least six forces to secretly drop employment checks on new recruits in a rush for extra cash as part of an attempt to find 20,000 new officers.

As a result, thousands of officers and staff across England and Wales were employed without any basic employment reference checks, according to a damning report.

Details emerged in a bombshell Met recruitment audit which revealed the ‘Home Office [and] National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) were aware that some other forces in England were not taking references’ of new recruits despite the obvious risk to the public. 

The Daily Mail has learnt that the Met was one of six forces to admit in a NPCC survey that it had ‘deviated’ from national police regulations during the £3billion Police Uplift Programme between July 2019 and March 2023.

But sources said the true number may be higher as some forces failed to respond to the NPCC poll. 

On Wednesday night, the Home Secretary ordered a watchdog to carry out an inspection of vetting procedures.

The internal review ordered by Met chief Mark Rowley (pictured) revealed that over the past decade Scotland Yard has let in 131 officers and staff without proper vetting who went on to commit appalling crimes and misconduct

The internal review ordered by Met chief Mark Rowley revealed that over the past decade Scotland Yard has let in 131 officers and staff without proper vetting who went on to commit appalling crimes and misconduct including rape, serious violence, racism and drug offences.

David Carrick, one of the UK’s worst sex offenders now serving 37 life sentences for attacks on 14 women, and Cliff Mitchell, a serial rapist who called himself ‘the devil’, were among Met officers not properly vetted in the scramble to meet recruitment targets. 

Mitchell kidnapped and raped a woman at knifepoint in 2023 after being welcomed into the Met in 2020 – despite being previously investigated for six counts of rape against a child.

Although there had been concerns about his recruitment, a vetting panel aimed at boosting diversity overturned a decision to reject his application. 

Mitchell was one of dozens of cases where ethnic minorities and those from ‘under-represented’ groups were allowed into the force to boost diversity targets despite concerns about their recruitment.

A vetting panel tackling disproportionality in the workforce overturned decisions to reject 114 officers and staff, resulting in the recruitment of 25 Met officers who went on to be accused of criminality or misconduct.

The report found vetting and reference checks were effectively switched off by Met managers to meet recruitment targets which would bring in £30.8milllion in extra funding for the force.

In board meetings led by then commissioner Cressida Dick, it was decided to prioritise ‘speed and output’ – resulting in 17,355 officers and staff joining without obtaining full employment references from 2018 to April 2022.

It has emerged that Scotland Yard failed to properly vet thousands of officers – allowing rapists, racist and violent offenders to join the force 

The force knowingly ‘deviated’ from national regulations, hiring officers without national security and Ministry of Defence vetting checks on those transferring from the military. It also failed to carry out intelligence checks on officers transferring from other forces.

In total, 5,073 officers and staff were not properly vetted. One of those to slip through the net was Carrick, with cursory checks in 2017 failing to reveal an allegation of domestic abuse against him.

The Met acknowledged that an estimated 1,200 officers and staff should not have joined and would not have passed today’s vetting standards. 

The report noted a fear of ‘adverse financial consequences’ for the Met if it did not find 4,557 recruits in a three-and-a-half year period resulted in ‘a realignment’ of ‘risk tolerances’.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said abandoning checks was a ‘dereliction of the Met’s duty to keep London safe’, adding: ‘Londoners rightly expect officers to undergo robust checks so the brightest and best – not criminals – are policing our streets.

‘I have asked the Chief Inspector of Constabulary to carry out an inspection as I seek to restore trust in the force’s ability to protect and serve the public.’

On Wednesday, the Met said it had taken action to tighten vetting standards. Since Sir Mark took over in September 2022, 1,500 officers have been sacked.

Paula Dodds, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said the report ‘illustrates a farcical situation in which hitting a numerical target of recruits has taken precedence over normal checks and balances’.