Former detective Bernadette Murray, who worked as a consultant for the Mayor’s office, said ‘they can’t say to him, we haven’t got any, because you don’t know what you don’t know’
A police whistleblower has claimed the Met Police ‘lies’ to the Mayor of London because ‘they don’t even know what grooming gangs they have’ due to how the force handles data on some of the capital’s most vulnerable children. Former detective Bernadette Murray was hired by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) as a consultant in 2017 after claiming to have witnessed disturbing practices, including the hiding of crime reports from all but a handful of senior officers and systematic failures to record basic information about safeguarding that resulted in “data corruption”.
During a six-month spell, the 32-year veteran helped Sir Sadiq Khan’s auditors examine units of the Met investigating child abuse, ran a training programme to improve standards and inspected to see if improvements were made. Murray claims when she reported that standards had actually deteriorated, the Mayor took no action.
Murray’s claims about Britain’s largest police force come after a MyLondon Freedom of Information investigation about a three-year probe into an alleged grooming gang involving a child in Hounslow. Our story revealed Hounslow Council did not disclose, when asked, any recent concerns about grooming gangs in the borough, even after the recent multi-borough investigation.
Our best source of information is you, and we guarantee your anonymity. If you know about grooming gangs in London, you can respond to our form here or message Callum on +447580255582.
Speaking to the Daily Express, Murray said: “I showed [Sadiq Khan’s auditors] what the Met Police were up to with cover-ups and corrupting the data… I explained how they were cheating the system. They’d seen for themselves and knew that the system was not functioning.
“My understanding is they didn’t put anything in place [to change things], they just moved officers around. There’s more confusion than ever before and children are still not being safeguarded.”
Murray claimed her experiences showed the force couldn’t be trusted on important topics like grooming gangs because they were constantly misrepresenting the facts. “I know that the Metropolitan Police lie to Mr Khan, that’s what they do,” she added.
“They don’t even know what grooming gangs they’ve got. They are not trying to find them. They can’t say to him, we haven’t got any, because you don’t know what you don’t know.”
Asked if Khan was aware he was being misled, Murray said: “Well, his auditors certainly told [him] that they were being lied to in my situation.”
‘Locking-up’
Murray’s concerns began in 2010 when she was headhunted to join a new multi-agency team operating in the North London Borough of Haringey. The unit had been established as part of the local authority’s attempts to rectify the horrific failures by police and social workers that led to the deaths of eight-year-old Victoria Climbié and 17-month-old Baby P.
Within days of arriving, she was shocked to discover that reports with safeguarding concerns about children were being rejected by the Child Abuse Investigation Team (CAIT) and disappeared “into the ether”. In one case, Murray claims she discovered CAIT officers had instructed social workers to return a 10-year-old girl to live alone with a man described as a ‘pimp’ who had assaulted her mother and was suspected of smuggling drugs into prison.
But Murray was most alarmed to discover officers were making crimes disappear on the Home Office Crime Reporting Information System (CRIS) so that only a select number of senior officers could find them again – a process referred to as “locking-up.” The retired detective claims she found a crime report she’d submitted detailing the neglect of a three-year-old girl found sitting in a gutter in Wood Green, who was potentially the victim of human trafficking, had been hidden in the system.
Murray, who argues that locking up a crime report detailing a safeguarding concern for a child “cannot be justified,” was so disturbed by this policy that she submitted a 50-page report on the hidden CRIS, which was assessed by then-Assistant Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley.
But Rowley, who has since become the Met Police Commissioner, ruled that he did “not accept that locking a CRIS is a dangerous practice”. He added that “the caveat is, of course, that a CRIS should only be locked in appropriate circumstances and that checks and balances are in place through robust supervision”, and endorsed the conduct of the CAIT officers in that specific case.
Murray claims the decision “basically authorized them to continue” practices she claims were “corrupt” and warned that the consequences of these actions were severe and meant that coroners examining the circumstances of their deaths could no longer reliably assess “what risk that child was exposed to whilst they’re alive”.
The former detective claims that the Mayor’s team was aware of Rowley’s opinion when they appointed him Commissioner in 2022.
‘We take all safeguarding concerns seriously’
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) takes all allegations of sexual offences and exploitation extremely seriously. We are clear that we will investigate any allegation where there is sufficient evidence of an offence having taken place and where we are the appropriate authority to do so.
“We acknowledge the concerns raised regarding child safeguarding practices in Haringey between 2010 and 2012. These matters were referred to the Department for Professional Standards and reviewed in detail, with an internal finding no operational failings in the cases identified.
“We take all safeguarding concerns seriously and remain committed to protecting vulnerable children and ensuring accountability in our practices. While historical reviews have highlighted areas for improvement, we continue to strengthen our systems, training, and oversight to uphold safeguarding standards across all units. The Met encourages staff to raise concerns through appropriate channels and is committed to supporting transparency and integrity in all aspects of our work.”
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “The safety of Londoners is a top priority for the Mayor and nowhere is this more true than in safeguarding children. Sadiq is doing everything within his power to protect children in the capital from abuse, violence and exploitation in all its forms.
“The Mayor will continue to support and challenge the Met and key partners to build a safer London for everyone – where no child is left unprotected.”
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