IOPC withdraws gross misconduct proceedings against former senior MPS officer Steve Rodhouse

The IOPC said its decision comes after “a large volume of relevant material” was recently disclosed to it by the MPS, despite being requested three years ago.

The IOPC investigated former Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse following complaints about the MPS’s failure to investigate two individuals who are alleged to have made false allegations during Operation Midland, an MPS investigation into allegations of non-recent sexual abuse.

In a statement issued today (June 5), the IOPC confirmed that Mr Rodhouse does not have a case to answer for gross misconduct and that it has withdrawn its direction to bring proceedings.

In response, Mr Rodhouse said: “I am pleased that the IOPC has finally recognised that I acted with honesty, integrity and care throughout a difficult investigation. I welcome the IOPC’s apology, but I have yet to receive an adequate explanation as to how this debacle occurred.

“I recognise that senior police officers must be held accountable for their actions, and that public complaints must be properly considered. However, if police officers are to willingly take on complex and challenging investigations, they must have the confidence that any complaints made about their conduct will be competently investigated in a balanced and timely fashion. That was not the case here.

“Vital evidence was not considered despite it being readily available and repeatedly requested. Once it was finally considered, it became clear that the allegations made against me were ill-founded and incorrect.

“I am grateful for all of the support that I have received, and I now look forward to resuming my career investigating and prosecuting serious criminals.”

Mr Rodhouse was due to face a disciplinary hearing for potentially breaching police professional standards of behaviour for honesty and integrity and discreditable conduct.

The allegations centred around comments made to the media in March 2016, concerning his beliefs about the honesty of two witnesses to Operation Midland – a MPS investigation into allegations of non-recent sexual abuse – and remarks he is alleged to have subsequently made to former High Court Judge Sir Richard Henriques who had been commissioned to carry out an independent review of the handling of Operation Midland in August 2016.

The IOPC said: “We conducted an independent investigation following complaints made by two individuals adversely affected by those witnesses’ allegations. Our investigation was completed in January 2023 and, on the basis of the evidence available, we concluded that Mr Rodhouse had a case to answer and should attend a disciplinary hearing.

“There is no evidence within the recently disclosed material that there was any inappropriate motivation in Mr Rodhouse’s comments to the media or which supports that he made those remarks during Sir Richard’s review.

“There was, however, substantial evidence to indicate the comments made to the media were the result of collaboration between senior Met officers and staff and that there had been appropriate considerations, including a desire not to discourage victims of historic sex offences coming forward.”

It added: “The threshold the IOPC must apply in determining whether someone should face disciplinary proceedings is set out in legislation and Home Office guidance.

“After careful and detailed consideration of the additional material now available, we have decided that the threshold is no longer met, and a disciplinary panel could not find the allegations proven.”

IOPC Director Amanda Rowe said: “It is highly regrettable for all concerned that material we requested three years ago during our investigation, and we believed had not been retained due to the Met’s retention policy, has only recently been discovered and disclosed.

“Police forces have a legal obligation to provide information to the IOPC when we request it. However, we acknowledge that we could have taken further steps during the investigation to seek additional assurance from the Met that relevant email material was definitely unavailable.

“We apologise to all of those affected and we are working with the force to establish exactly how and why this situation has occurred, and to reduce the risk of it happening again.

“Today’s announcement does not change our finding that by failing to follow Sir Richard’s recommendation in his review to investigate the witnesses, the Met’s service was unacceptable and its subsequent reviews concluding no investigation was needed were flawed.

“During our investigation we reported a potential crime to the Met, which is being actively investigated by another force.”