A man who kidnapped and raped a woman at knife point while serving as a Metropolitan Police officer has been jailed for life for a series of sexual assaults.
Following a trial at Croydon Crown Court, Cliff Mitchell, 24, was convicted of 10 counts of rape, three counts of rape of a child under 13, one count of kidnap, and a breach of a non-molestation order, all dating between 2014 and 2023.
But in Mitchell’s case he joined the force as recently as 2021, despite previously having been subject to a rape investigation in 2017.
In April 2017 a girl reported she had been raped by Mitchell on a number of occasions between 2014 and 2017. The Met said the allegations were investigated and resulted in “no further action.”
Mitchell applied to join the Met in 2020 and started his training in August 2021.
Met Says Mitchell’s Crimes ‘Abhorrent’
On Wednesday the Met described Mitchell’s crimes as “abhorrent” and said he would not have been able to join the force under its new vetting procedures, which were brought in after the Couzens and Carrick cases emerged.The court heard Mitchell raped his most recent victim in September 2023 after turning up at her house, telling her to put her arms behind her back, blindfolding her, and then tying her up with cable ties and taping her mouth shut.
He told her nobody would believe her if she said anything because he was a police officer.
Mitchell bundled her into his car but she managed to escape in Hackbridge, south London, and approached another motorist who gave her sanctuary in his vehicle before calling 999.
His car was stopped seven miles away in Putney and he was arrested.
After his arrest, the 2017 rape allegation was reinvestigated and he was charged with an additional six offences.
Offences Driven by ‘Desire for Control’
Sentencing him to serve a minimum of 13 years and 225 days in jail, Mrs. Justice May said he was “clearly a deeply troubled young man,” whose “serious offending appears to have arisen for desire for control.”The judge said, “The fact he was a police officer, albeit for a short time, will make imprisonment a harsher experience for him.”
Mitchell was a police constable in the Met’s west area basic command unit and was based in Hounslow, west London when several of the offences were committed.
Mrs. Justice May praised a passer-by who helped the September 2023 victim.
None of the women or girls Mitchell targeted can be named for legal reasons, but in one of the victim impact statements one of them said to him: “You have shown no remorse for what you did to us. You deserve to spend the rest of your life in a cell because you are a serious danger to every woman walking the streets.”
The court was told his victims suffer from post traumatic stress disorder from their ordeals.
‘You Are a Pathetic Excuse of a Man’
“You are a pathetic excuse of a man. I’m letting myself heal from the trauma,” she added.Following the sentencing, the Met’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy said: “The victim statements read out in court clearly demonstrate the life-long impact Mitchell’s offending has had and will continue to have on the rest of their lives. The fact he abused his power as an officer as part of his attempt to manipulate them is even more abhorrent.”
“We understand the concerns around Mitchell being cleared to join the Met after an initial report of rape was made in 2017 and the questions this inevitably raises,” he added.
Mr. Cundy said, “Under our reformed vetting approach, Mitchell would not be granted vetting clearance and be able to join the Met.”
“We continue to reform and invest in our vetting unit, which today is larger, better equipped, and staffed by people who are showing greater professional curiosity, diligence, and determination than ever before,” he added.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has not yet commented on Mitchell, but last month he gave his support to the commissioner of the Met, Sir Mark Rowley.
