- DS Stephen Redgewell ‘abused position’ in Met Police Federation, IOPC found
- Misconduct panel found 54-year-old Redgewell had acted in ‘predatory manner’
- IOPC inspected text chain containing ‘racially and sexually charged messages’
- DS Redgewell resigned from force in 2018 over separate sex in office allegations
Source: Dailymail.co.uk.
CANADA – A senior Metropolitan police officer who resigned from the force after having a ‘sex and whips’ romp with a dominatrix in the office, called a colleague an ‘Asian babe’ in a series of ‘racially and sexually explicit messages’, a misconduct panel heard.
Detective Sergeant Stephen Redgewell, 54, ‘abused his position’ as deputy general secretary and treasurer of the Met Police Federation by ‘behaving in a predatory manner’ towards a female colleague.
Among 2,000 texts shared between the pair over a two year period, a police watchdog found evidence that Redgewell sent ‘numerous racially and sexually charged messages’.
Redgewell is said to have made references to the woman’s race in a ‘sexual context, calling her an ‘Asian babe’ and suggested the woman should leave her husband’, The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) found.
‘He also sent pictures of a sexual nature, non-sexual pictures of himself, photographs of an officer he referred to as a ‘Muslim babe’, messages relating to that officer’s race, and messages which can be categorised as anti-Semitic, racist, homophobic and sexist,’ the watchdog said.
The former officer resigned from his role at the Met Police in November 2018, after allegations emerged that he had sex with a ‘dominatrix’ in the headquarters of the Met Police Federation in Bromley, South London.
The misconduct hearing found Redgewell would have been sacked for the text messages to his colleague, between October 2015 and September 2017, if he were still a serving officer.
IOPC regional director for London Sal Naseem said: ‘At a time when a vulnerable colleague needed assistance, Stephen Redgewell, who had risen to the senior position of deputy general secretary and treasurer within the Metropolitan Police Federation, abused his position by behaving in a predatory manner.
‘This type of appalling behaviour corrodes the public’s trust in policing and I have no doubt will appal fellow officers, the wider policing community and members of the public.
‘The former officer abused his senior position to send racially and sexually explicit messages to a colleague when she was at her most vulnerable.
‘The colleague told us he manipulated her and made her feel dependent on him to the extent she had to engage with him in order to receive the assistance she required from the Metropolitan Police Federation.’
A police misconduct panel on Wednesday found DS Redgewell’s actions amounted to gross misconduct and said he would have been dismissed without notice if he was still a serving police officer, but will now be placed on the barred list.
Commander Paul Betts, of the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards, said: ‘The actions of former DS Redgewell fell well below the standards expected by the Met and the public we serve.
‘He abused his position as a federation representative to pursue a relationship with a female officer, who he was assisting with a work issue.
‘This unacceptable behaviour was compounded by the fact DS Redgewell knew the woman was vulnerable at the time.
‘The language used in text messages and conversations over the period of this relationship were also extremely offensive and have absolutely no place in the Metropolitan Police.
‘The Met has a zero tolerance policy for any behaviour that is racist, sexist or homophobic and it is right DS Redgewell would have been dismissed without notice if he had still been a serving officer.’
Redgewell quit the force in November 2018 after reports emerged in the Sunday Mirror about him having sex with a ‘dominatrix’ in the office of the Met Police Federation in Bromley, South London.
The Federation represents rank-and-file police officers.
According to the 2018 reports, Redgwell had kinky trysts with vampire-loving Denise Pearce, who admitted bringing ‘whips’ and being ‘more dominant’.
However the pair rowed after he refused to leave his family home, after promising to marry her at Dracula’s Castle in Romania, the paper reported.
