Skip to main content
The Morning Star 2026 Conference
Vetting failures allowed criminals and sexual predators to join police force, report finds
People gather for a vigil for Sarah Everard in Clapham Common, London in March 2021. Serving police constable Wayne Couzens, 48, was charged with kidnapping and killing the marketing executive, who went missing while walking home from a friend's flat in south London.

WOMEN’S rights campaigners are demanding profound and urgent changes to the police after a report found vetting failures have allowed criminals and sexual predators to join the force. 

The Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) report published today found that officers convicted of domestic abuse, sexual assault and indecent exposure were cleared to join the police service. 

Rape suspects and those accused of racially aggravated damage and serious violence were also cleared, the report found, with some forces justifying their decisions by describing the acts as a “one-off.”

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Rail staff at Waverley station, Edinburgh
STUC Women’s Conference 2025 / 30 October 2025
30 October 2025

EDDIE DEMPSEY explains why the RMT is calling for urgent action against assaults on staff and passengers on our public transport system

ACT OF INTIMIDATION: A pedestrian crossing defaced to resemble a St George’s cross, in part of a spate of such incidents recently
Features / 24 September 2025
24 September 2025

A joint statement from Derby Indian Workers’ Association and Vox Feminarum/Women’s Voices

PULLING NO PUNCHES: Activists from the feminist campaign gro
Features / 17 April 2025
17 April 2025

Mountains of research show that hardcore material harms children, yet there are still no simple measures in place